Was Chicharito the last “gem” to be unearthed by our scouts?

[Nikelesh Reddy]

A few weeks ago Jose had a pop at our scouts after the West Ham game,and i actually started thinking that it’s been a while since our scouts unearthed a real gem of a player.Chicharito was probably the last “gem” to be unearthed by our scouts..Was virtually unknown in Europe,he had played 60 odd games in Mexico when he was signed for United....Played over a 100 games,scored almost 40 goals...He obviously wasn’t a runaway success but he was a very good squad player...

So was Chicharito the last “gem” to be unearthed by our scouts??If so,then why are our scouts failing so miserably to find the next big thing?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Pogba?

 

[tomaldinho1]

Martial?

 

[SirAF]

Martial?

Martial was fairly well known as a hot prospect though?

 

[Samid]

Pogba?

Not that I agree with OP but Pogba arrived before Chicharito.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Not that I agree with OP but Pogba arrived before Chicharito.

Ah you’re right, Pogba arrived the year before.

 

[JPRouve]

Finding the gems is one thing, landing them is an other. United aren't currently a place that players will prioritize. Not enough stability.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Martial was fairly well known as a hot prospect though?

Not really - wasn't there some story about players having to google him? He'd just had a decent season at Monaco but BBC had to run articles on 'Who is Martial'

I guess every promising young player is a 'hot prospect' but I remember a lot of fans not knowing anything about him

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Martial was fairly well known as a hot prospect though?

Name one ”gem” was wasn’t :/

 

[el3mel]

Probably.

Disagree with Martial suggestions. He costed us 37m with lots of adds on and was considered the most expensive teenager at this time.

 

[Raw]

Hopefully it'll be Dalot next. Still quite well known but not really a signing we'd usually make post-Fergie.

 

[Samid]

Milinkovic-Savic back in 2014. Shame we messed up the paperwork and signed the wrong one instead.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Martial was fairly well known as a hot prospect though?

Exactly.He wasn’t a hidden gem at all...He was doing very well in one of the biggest clubs in France.He had done well in the CL the season before...So he was fairly well known across Europe...

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Not really - wasn't there some story about players having to google him? He'd just had a decent season at Monaco but BBC had to run articles on 'Who is Martial'

I guess every promising young player is a 'hot prospect' but I remember a lot of fans not knowing anything about him

Strange that our players had to google him....He had done excellently in the CL the season before,he played really well against Arsenal when Monaco won 3-1 at the emirates.He was playing week in,week out for one of the biggest clubs in France...Martial was hardly a hidden gem...

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Probably.

Disagree with Martial suggestions. He costed us 37m with lots of adds on and was considered the most expensive teenager at this time.

Plus he had done really well in the CL the season before....He was consistently playing for one of the biggest clubs in France...

 

[Sky1981]

Those star player in the making won't likely wanna come for us or other big teams unless they're ready.

Read an article on why they prefer to move to a smaller club that gives them weekly game time, and in some gentlemen agreement the club will let them move for some fee when they're established and won't stand in their way.

We might regret not signing x,y,z 5 years ago, but we forget those x,y,z of 5 years ago would be hounded out and deemed as deadwood if they play for us.

Can you imagine a 20 years old sms playing for us week in week out? He's not ready and it could break him mentally and physically as well, not every 18 years old is built for the epl.

At 18 unless you're messi or mbappe you'll likely wont be purchased for much money anyway, bet the agent would just want to eait a few more years for a bigger fee when they're established.

Easy to say on paper. Hence why all those "let's find the next messi plan" seldom works. And not to mention it's really hard even for veteran scouts to properly judge potentials. This isn't fm where everything is in number, most of the times scouts are miss rather than hit.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Those star player in the making won't likely wanna come for us or other big teams unless they're ready.

Read an article on why they prefer to move to a smaller club that gives them weekly game time, and in some gentlemen agreement the club will let them move for some fee when they're established and won't stand in their way.

We might regret not signing x,y,z 5 years ago, but we forget those x,y,z of 5 years ago would be hounded out and deemed as deadwood if they play for us.

Can you imagine a 20 years old sms playing for us week in week out? He's not ready and it could break him mentally and physically as well, not every 18 years old is built for the epl.

At 18 unless you're messi or mbappe you'll likely wont be purchased for much money anyway, bet the agent would just want to eait a few more years for a bigger fee when they're established.

Easy to say on paper. Hence why all those "let's find the next messi plan" seldom works. And not to mention it's really hard even for veteran scouts to properly judge potentials. This isn't fm where everything is in number, most of the times scouts are miss rather than hit.

Nobody’s trying to find the next “Messi”....Chicharito was not “Messi or Mbappe”,But he was bought for less than 10 million quid and he was a useful squad player.Delli Ali was picked up by Spurs from Milton Dons and Look where he is right now....We signed Schmeichel from the unfancied Danish League....Look how we plucked Nemanja Vidic out from nowhere....

 

[WR10]

It's really not on the scouts. Let's be honest, if us, the average couch potato with some football manager knowledge and a few channel flicks to different football games can pick out a good player, then I'm 100% dead certain an expert in the field can do it too if that's all they do 24/7. It's only logical.

Really talented players have no reason to join us a young age. They will not get game time. Also, another big factor is the fact that clubs know we have the money and I'm pretty sure we don't strike a deal with most of these clubs even though they end up being transferred to other clubs for potentially less money than we would have paid.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Strange that our players had to google him....He had done excellently in the CL the season before,he played really well against Arsenal when Monaco won 3-1 at the emirates.He was playing week in,week out for one of the biggest clubs in France...Martial was hardly a hidden gem...

It depends on what the OP means by hidden gem because, as major signings go, Martial was one that stands out for me. Your post kind of proves he wan't a household name because unless you watch Ligue 1, it's a case of having seen him a few times in the CL and one performance that sticks out against PL opposition. He basically had one full season and then we bought him.

 

[Hound Dog]

Nobody’s trying to find the next “Messi”....Chicharito was not “Messi or Mbappe”,But he was bought for less than 10 million quid and he was a useful squad player.Delli Ali was picked up by Spurs from Milton Dons and Look where he is right now....We signed Schmeichel from the unfancied Danish League....Look how we plucked Nemanja Vidic out from nowhere....

Vidic is a bad example. He was expected to make a big move for a year or two before he signed for United.

 

[Moriarty]

Finding the gems is one thing, landing them is an other. United aren't currently a place that players will prioritize. Not enough stability.

Unless they're British or Irish. United still is a very attractive proposition in the British Isles.

 

[Le Red]

Scouts are not even a thing anymore.
Today transfers are decided mainly by dodgy business meetings with greasy agents. Stats might be a factor and international caps are considered important, hence why so many crap players end up getting appearances on national teams.
There's also probably a compilation of the highlights of the player's career, a resource that arguably can make an amateur look like a world beater.
Bad players with good agents get good contracts. That's just how it works nowadays. Pass the ball sideways and back to preserve that cool 90+% pass accuracy and you're set.

 

[Ibi Dreams]

Strange that our players had to google him....He had done excellently in the CL the season before,he played really well against Arsenal when Monaco won 3-1 at the emirates.He was playing week in,week out for one of the biggest clubs in France...Martial was hardly a hidden gem...

He wasn't particularly known by the posters here, as I recall, and people posting on football forums are likely to be more informed than most. It doesn't surprise me at all that players wouldn't have known who he was, if you're not watching Monaco play regularly and you're not talking about football online then it wouldn't really come up.

Obviously he was rated by his club, which is why he was so expensive. It's always more interesting when a young player goes very cheaply and then performs at a really high level. Like Alli as mentioned, or Lewandowski to Dortmund for about £3m or whatever it was

 

[RedorDead21]

He wasn't particularly known by the posters here, as I recall, and people posting on football forums are likely to be more informed than most. It doesn't surprise me at all that players wouldn't have known who he was, if you're not watching Monaco play regularly and you're not talking about football online then it wouldn't really come up.

Hands up I didn't know of him.....

 

[Charlie Foley]

A few weeks ago Jose had a pop at our scouts after the West Ham game,and i actually started thinking that it’s been a while since our scouts unearthed a real gem of a player.Chicharito was probably the last “gem” to be unearthed by our scouts..Was virtually unknown in Europe,he had played 60 odd games in Mexico when he was signed for United....Played over a 100 games,scored almost 40 goals...He obviously wasn’t a runaway success but he was a very good squad player...

So was Chicharito the last “gem” to be unearthed by our scouts??If so,then why are our scouts failing so miserably to find the next big thing?

Hernandez scored almost 60 goals for us

 

[RedorDead21]

Personally I think it's the opposite. SAF hand picked the best players from other teams quite alot. It's quite a simple approach. Look at Bayern. We've moved away from that. VVD...nah we'll get Bailly and Lindelof.......Mahrez.....nah.....bring back Ronaldo....nah.....re the latter we openly went and failed for plenty of others over the years wouldn't be a disgrace to repeat it for him. I think we didn't try whether that is Mou or Ed is irrelevant. It's a deal we should have openly tried for being the open club we are these days with transfers.

 

[RedorDead21]

Hernandez scored almost 60 goals for us

He wouldnt under Mou. Thats the issue its not his type of striker....we knew that when we appointed Mou.....nothing is new news with Mou and it's all on us as a club. The problem isn't just the manager. Hell we've tried 3. We need a new structure on the player side that much is obvious.

 

[Charlie Foley]

He wouldnt under Mou. Thats the issue its not his type of striker....we knew that when we appointed Mou.....nothing is new news with Mou and it's all on us as a club. The problem isn't just the manager. Hell we've tried 3. We need a new structure on the player side that much is obvious.

I didn't say anything about him playing under Mourinho. Neither did the post I quoted.

 

[RedorDead21]

I didn't say anything about him playing under Mourinho. Neither did the post I quoted.

Sorry I had a random statement I needed to get off my chest

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Iirc we got Chicharito before the WC where he played so well. The club wrapped up the deal so quickly and efficiently pre-WC. I remember he's a total unknown to many football fans, maybe not in Mexico. He's a genuine gem alright.

So other than him.. maybe Bailly, he's kind of unknown. Other than him, is Evra really that highly rated? I don't remember people spoke highly of him before he signed with us. It's a surprise deal for me. Vidic is highly known and rated at that time as one of Serb's iron defense, but not Evra. Rafael/Fabio is also known enough, but we got 'em first.

Anyway, I think it's unfair to say our scouts are bad and fail miserably. For all we do not know, they may 've scouted the players regarded as top prospects now, yet the manager or whoever's in charge don't want to get. We should also consider plenty of the young 'uns go the the youth from the scouts findings eg. Chong. The ones that go straightaway to the first team over the years doesn't become a "gem", not really the scout faults they fail. The likes of Chicharito rose to the occassion and be the "gem".

 

[Charlie Foley]

Sorry I had a random statement I needed to get off my chest

fair enough

 

[Charles Miller]

Man United have scouts in South America? You see the media talking about the presence of Spanish/German/Italian scouts in many games of the Libertadores but they never say nothing about United.

 

[berbatrick]

Andraes Pereira? I remember watching his youth videos in amazement, just as Pogba was abut to leave it looked like we had found something almost as good.

 

[hasanejaz88]

Hopefully it'll be Dalot next. Still quite well known but not really a signing we'd usually make post-Fergie.

I know it's weird but I had a dream where he scored a hat trick in the UCL playing as a left winger Do it Jose!

Martial was very unknown when he came in. The price was high but I had never seen him play before that and I remember many people were critical of United spending so much for an youngster who wasn't hyped as much. That was good scouting by United.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Milinkovic-Savic back in 2014. Shame we messed up the paperwork and signed the wrong one instead.

?

 

[Andycoleno9]

Chong?

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Martial?

You don't 'unearth' a player and spend 50 million on them. Martial was a shit hot prospect that many clubs were keen on.

Credit goes to Monaco for unearthing him.

 

[Ekeke]

Our scouts probably have databases full of players that looked quite good. But its up to Woodward and Mourinho to pull the trigger on them and pick the right ones.

 

[Judas]

Chong?

Bit early to say him isn't it? I was going to say him, but only as a joke because I know he's worshipped on here

 

[Samid]

?

Point was that our scouts aren't even capable of spotting the more talented of brothers. So I don't expect them to be unearthing talents regularly.