First post in the Main Football Forum, just like to give a shout out to @jb8521, @khoazany and @Mr. MUJAC and one or two others for their great work keeping us up to speed on RedCafe re. the Reserve/Youth teams, thanks Fellas, much appreciated.
Miscellaneous Reserve/Youth News
- Thread starter Cevno
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Thanks
Apologies if this has been covered previously in the thread, but there was an article in the Daily Mail today saying Manchester United have shut down seven of their youth development centres(in the North-West) with United concerned they were stockpiling too many academy youngsters which could see some slip through the net in a fiercely competitive area of the country.
Maybe i'm just reading that wrong, but surely the less centres there are means less intake which means there is more chance, not less of missing out on talented youngsters ?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...hester-United-shut-seven-academy-centres.html
Maybe i'm just reading that wrong, but surely the less centres there are means less intake which means there is more chance, not less of missing out on talented youngsters ?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...hester-United-shut-seven-academy-centres.html
Presumably they mean there's more chance of lads not actually signing for us if they think they're just a number rather than feeling more valued in a smaller group. The huge increase in number of scouts and more full time scouts probably means there's less need for such a high number of centres so having less of them and increasing the quality of facilities, coaches and a smaller group of players at a higher general standard makes sense. A lot of our coaches also do the football in the community coaching so see most players at those sessions anyway.
United have obviously put a lot of thought into it, do you think the recent scrapping of the 90/60/30 minute travel distant rules for the youngsters had anything to do with it, or is that something completely different ??
No it's different this is only talking about players from u6-u8 and the Elite Player Performance Plan they brought in only starts at u9s and the players can still only be recruited from within 60 minutes up as far as u12s, from u12s onwards the category 1 teams can recruit nationally.
I wouldn't read too much into this, the club are signing lower numbers in the younger age groups, the reason for this is two fold, the first being trying to concentrate on the very best kids, the second reason is to make room to bring the best kids from other academies post U9, this is something we've been poor at other the last few years. It therefore makes perfect sense to reduce the number of regional development centres as we won't need to churn over the large number of kids the academy has usually done when signing 25+ kids at U9. The best kids will jump the development centre stage and be put straight into the Elite group at the Cliff. After U9 we also run shadow squads where scouted kids from grass roots football train so we can have a look at them and occasionally play them against the signed players.
A lot of changes and I must admit we seem to be following the City model when it comes to re-vamping our academy structure.
Oh right, so it's only from u12 upwards that the restriction have been lifted, thanks
Has there been any progress on upping the hours per week the younger age-groups are allowed to train, or are the powers that be still burying their heads in the sand
U9 to u11 is 4-8 hours per week, u12-16 is 10-12 hours and u17-u21 is 14 hours. There's more info here
http://www.thepfsa.co.uk/eppp
Trying to think who it was, it may well have been Nick Cox when he was still at Sheffield United, but I remember reading an article saying how much success they'd had by running a shadow squad for youngsters who had flunked their trials, but it's a great idea though.
You might be right about United following the City model, just hope the DM don't get wind of it, or we'll never hear the end of it !!
It was West Brom.
Wasn't sure if it was Nick Cox, or Steve Hopcroft, thanks
Has Alex Robertson moved to City from United?
Who's Alex Robertson?
An Australian who was in our Academy, he left for City in the summer
u16 level I think.
Thanks. I'm assuming he's pretty good?
I only saw him once so I can't really say if he was good or bad
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Not been overly impressed with Luca Ercolani, James Dunne or Jake Barrett when i've seen them over the last two seasons(which is less and less these days, thanks MUTV !!), and haven't seen enough of Di'shon Barnard yet to form an opinion, but do any of the regular watchers of the u18 side know if after missing out on Yeboah Amankwah to Man City at the eleventh hour(or so it seemed)we 're still actively looking to recruit in that area of the pitch, or are the club happy to go as we are for this season and just bring somebody in from the u16 side in the event of an injury crisis ?
And secondly, is there anybody in the u16 side that could step up ?
And secondly, is there anybody in the u16 side that could step up ?
According the Sun, goalkeeper Dean Henderson (20), on loan to Shrewsbury, is being monitored by Arsenal and Benfica. He's out of contract next summer.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/foot...-news-england-dean-henderson-arsenal-benfica/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/foot...-news-england-dean-henderson-arsenal-benfica/
Bernard was brought in after Amankwah decided to join City, we were interested in a couple of other cbs but no idea if there are any plans to go for them this season but I doubt it since they probably wouldn't get to play many games by the time they'd get clearance. In terms of options at the club I wouldn't mind seeing Garner move back to cb considering we gave so many options in midfield. Teden Mambuene would be the most likely to come in from the u16s and he played with the u19s at the Otten Cup during the summer but moving him up would leave the u16s very short of cbs.
We have more than enough number of CBs for the U18s. Garner can moved back if necessary (I actually want him at CB more than DM) and of course Mambuene can play up. When Traore is ready to play I can see us playing a Traore - Puigmal - Galbraith midfield three so Garner moves back to CB is a logical option unless we bench him.
Garner has never played centre-half at all as far as I know...so no idea how good he might be. By the time you are in the 18's you rarely see any midfielders turn into central defenders so I have big doubts about that.
O'Connor is the stand out in the 18's but will most likely move up this season. The remainder of the CH's are ok without anyone being outstanding so it's certainly a weaker area of the team.
Oh right, thought Di'Shon had come in earlier.
Are Teden Mambuene and Teden Mengi one and the same, and is it just the case that in certain competitions he can register to play in his Mother's Maiden name, or is that wide of the mark ??
I like the look of Garner from the little i've seen of him, but he looks slightly one-paced, talented on the ball though. It'll be interesting to see where he settles into the team when all the midfield options are fit and available.
On that note, noticed that Aliou Traore still hasn't been listed on the official website, is he still awaiting International clearance ?
Agree on O’Connor. Too bad he is only 17. If he had been a couple of years older his timing would have been very good considering the lack of one quality left back. Now I would assume Mourinho brings in a left back next summer.
Teden has changed his name from Mambuene to Mengi...
Traore has been injured but his clearance hasn't come through...
I see him as Valencias replacement in a few years. He'll be best as a right wing back imo.
Agreed, he's a more than capable centre back but considering how good he is at getting forward and creating chances for others and himself he would almost be wasted playing there long term, in my opinion. All about timing though, so hopefully he's ready to step up when the right back slot is being vacated or the opportunity doesn't arise too soon or too late.
It may be the case that Fosu Mensah can keep the place warm for him once Tony is too old - and Tim can then move into the middle. Agree re O'Connor at wing back, though - makes most sense to me.
Yeah that would be the perfect outcome, so you know that means that it won't happen.
I think he is brilliant on the left too. Looks like a very «well rounded» talent. Hard to spot a weakness to his game. The most likely to make it of the players at U21 and U18?
O'Connor will end up as a multi-functional player tbh, aka Lahm, Alaba, Kimmich, Roberto etc
The Guardian did their annual top 60 youth players u17 in the world and we usually have a player feature except this year we have 0.
In the past we have had the likes of Indy Boonen, Tahith Chong (Both 2016) Fosu-Mensah (2015) and 0 (2014).
I would've though Angel would've made it but he was born just inside the age group as they go from 1Sep to 31Aug.
For the top u17 in each PL club list they make we have for this year Arnau Puigmal represent our academy and in the past Angel Gomes (2016), Callum Gribbin (2015) and Marcus Rashford (2014).
These players do seem to be the cream of the crop of our young talents and the ones I see making it a high level are Rashford arguably done it already Fosu-Mensah, Angel Gomes and just a personal hunch Puigmal. Jury is still out on Boonen Chong and Gribbin for me with some of them already suffering injury problems which could seriously derail their careers which otherwise should be on the similar path as the others.
In the past we have had the likes of Indy Boonen, Tahith Chong (Both 2016) Fosu-Mensah (2015) and 0 (2014).
I would've though Angel would've made it but he was born just inside the age group as they go from 1Sep to 31Aug.
For the top u17 in each PL club list they make we have for this year Arnau Puigmal represent our academy and in the past Angel Gomes (2016), Callum Gribbin (2015) and Marcus Rashford (2014).
These players do seem to be the cream of the crop of our young talents and the ones I see making it a high level are Rashford arguably done it already Fosu-Mensah, Angel Gomes and just a personal hunch Puigmal. Jury is still out on Boonen Chong and Gribbin for me with some of them already suffering injury problems which could seriously derail their careers which otherwise should be on the similar path as the others.
Does anybody know if we ended up signing Bruno Amorim the young forward from Oliveirense.
It's just that i'd have sworn I saw him in and around the bench at the last u23 match
It's just that i'd have sworn I saw him in and around the bench at the last u23 match
According to his Wiki he plays for us.
I chalked it down to his club trying to create interest in him to sell him on by claiming we're close to signing him. There has no further news on him since that day.
I'd be very surprised if we signed him but failed to announce it on the club website
I thought that originally, and had forgotten all about him to be honest, but there was definitely somebody that looked like him(only going off the picture of him in the grey kit when he was at Carrington) in the stand with the u23 players that hadn't made the squad that night, and those still out injured.
It could've been somebody from the ever expanding backroom staff, or an interpretor maybe, but whoever it was he was a ringer for Bruno Amorin.
Was hoping somebody else had noticed the mystery guy.
http://www.tribalfootball.com/artic...rmed-for-swedish-wonderkid-rines-arif-4202889
Any got any more info on the player i.e. position played and how highly rated he is at Malmo?
Any got any more info on the player i.e. position played and how highly rated he is at Malmo?