Youth Progress

Here are my opinions:

Reserves :

Reece Brown - Won't make it
Veremjil - Good player. Needs to bulk up. Doubt he will make it due to all our RB's
Tom Thorpe - Been in and out of the reserve team. Has a chance of first team
Michael Keane - In CC squads, so must have a chance Reserves regular.
Will Keane - I think he has a great chance. Doing well in reserves. May need a loan in NY.
Pettruci - Very good player, but not sure he will make it at United now. Development slowed by terrible injuries
Matt James - Been injured. Don't think he will make it at MUFC.
Fryers - Played in first team. Must have a chance.
Larnell Cole - Played in first team. Must have a chance.
Michele Fornasier - Good player. Think he lacks the height to make it at CB.
Alberto Massacci - Never seems to play much. Even in last years youth team cup run he was always on the bench. Won't make it.
John Cofie - Suffered with injuries. Path to reserves blocked by Macheda, Diouf and Keane.
Raph Leao - Has not done too much. won't make it.


On Loan :

Joshua King (Borussia Mönchengladbach) - 20mins all season. Had injurues
Ryan Tunnicliffe (Peterborough United) - Playing regularly and doing well.
Norwood (Scunthorpe) -- Playing regularly and doing well.
Drinkwater (Barnsley) - Playing regularly and doing well.
Rob Brady (Hull City) - Playing really well and getting some great reviews. May result in a PL loan move next season.

Academy : Please add the "players to watch" here as I don't have extensive knowledge about the academy.

The academy are difficult to rate this season. Most are actually u-17's in an u-18's league and sometimes suffer physically against teams. That said, they are technically very very good. I think next season they will be outstanding. I am personally excited about Jack Barmby who has a great left foot and all the attributes to be able to make a good career in the game. Of the players listed below, Daehli and Januzaj are both very talented but need to develop physically before they go further (reserves). Gorre is not a regular starter. Van Velzen is a strange one. Good player with good technique, but will not make it IMHO.

Daehli -
Van Velzen -
Januzaj -
Gorre -

The continued development of Lingard has probably been the standout so far this season for the reserves.

https://www.redcafe.net/f6/loan-watch-2011-12-a-335841/index3.html

alot of good work in here.

Reece Brown - Doubt very much if he will it at United

Veremjil - I quite like him and he has toughened up a lot since he joined --- could come close.

Tom Thorpe ---- got the potential but looks to be slightly shorter than most CB's

Michele Fornasier as above

Michael Keane - 100% player - reminds me a little of Garry Neville in his determination to succeed.

Will Keane - more talent than brother sometimes reminds me of Berba with silky skills but can appear to not be trying (although i am sure he is)

Fryers - Good player with the bonus of being very strong, quick and athletic -- good chance

Pettruci - quality -- injuries have slowed progress but I think time is on his side --- every chance.

Matt James - Injuries have hit him hard -- probably unlikely to reach 1st team now.

Larnell Cole - great feet, brave and getting stronger - chance

Lingard - see Cole

Alberto Massacci - Poor sod has had injury following injury -- probably one of those who's height has out grown strength -- to be honest no idea, when he has played look decent enough.

John Cofie - Suffered with injuries. If he works hard enough and gets lucky with injuries has the talent to rise ahead the others.

Leao - Absloutely no idea.

Not that sure that Petrucci has time on his side RedPhil. You'd like to think he would have at 20 years old but losing 2 years of your development at that age must be awfully hard to recover from. Hopefully the club shows a lot of patience with him because i think it'll be needed. I had really high hopes for he and Matt James, but the 2 of them have had totally rotten luck with injuries.

Well we gave Gibson plenty of time so I'd like to think we'd give Petrucci plenty of time to prove himself too.

RedPhil1957 said:

Reece Brown - Doubt very much if he will it at United

Veremjil - I quite like him and he has toughened up a lot since he joined --- could come close.

Tom Thorpe ---- got the potential but looks to be slightly shorter than most CB's

Michele Fornasier as above

Michael Keane - 100% player - reminds me a little of Garry Neville in his determination to succeed.

Will Keane - more talent than brother sometimes reminds me of Berba with silky skills but can appear to not be trying (although i am sure he is)

Fryers - Good player with the bonus of being very strong, quick and athletic -- good chance

Pettruci - quality -- injuries have slowed progress but I think time is on his side --- every chance.

Matt James - Injuries have hit him hard -- probably unlikely to reach 1st team now.

Larnell Cole - great feet, brave and getting stronger - chance

Lingard - see Cole

Alberto Massacci - Poor sod has had injury following injury -- probably one of those who's height has out grown strength -- to be honest no idea, when he has played look decent enough.

John Cofie - Suffered with injuries. If he works hard enough and gets lucky with injuries has the talent to rise ahead the others.

Leao - Absloutely no idea.

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I think Michael Keane is one of those whose development has improved dramatically over the last 12 months. He is keeping Tom Thorpe out of the reserveteam. His problem is that he lacks a bit of height to be a central defender. But he could do well at right back

Thorpe isn't particularly short - I am pretty sure he is taller than Phil Jones for instance. He does however lack a bit of pace

Jesse Lingard has perhaps been our best player and if him and Cole can gain a bit more strength - they can go FAR

Petrucci has lost too much time due to injuries - I can't see him making it here

Yep Thorpe never struck me as short at all. A far classier prospect than Keane who it must be said has come on leaps over the last 12 months. Still rate Thorpe v highly.

Thorpe has had a few injuries which have held him back a bit this season.

Decotron said:

Yep Thorpe never struck me as short at all. A far classier prospect than Keane who it must be said has come on leaps over the last 12 months. Still rate Thorpe v highly.

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I agree about Thorpe's talent, very cultured defender it was just he struck me as being slightly shorter than most CB's -- perhaps its because so many reserve teams have players that look huge in that age group - Blackburn for example look more like a Rugby League side then a football team.

Well if he was standing beside McGintey he'd probably look tiny!!! that lad is a feicin' shithouse for his age

Tyler Blackett is another defender who I rate highly out of our youth system, massive lad too. Needs to mature as a player and be more responsible as defender but he looks a great prospect.

Decotron said:

Well if he was standing beside McGintey he'd probably look tiny!!! that lad is a feicin' shithouse for his age

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Apparently he was nicknamed bulldozer or something like that at Charlton

Sean McGinty has something Stuart Pearce-like about him. Psycho in tackles but with a sweet left-foot

Pogba, Morrison and Will Keane are 1st team certainties. There are about 8 others that have the talent to make it, depends on physical\mental development, recovery from injuries etc. We have an incredible bunch of talent here at the moment. Players who have emerged and impressed me this season are Michael Keane and Jack Barmby. That lad Januzaj looks a magic player too the few times I have seen him for us, very exciting times.

Nobody is a cert to make it here, ever. No doubt that Morrison and Pogba in particular look good for it though, for now.

mattsville said:

Pogba, Morrison and Will Keane are 1st team certainties. There are about 8 others that have the talent to make it, depends on physical\mental development, recovery from injuries etc. We have an incredible bunch of talent here at the moment. Players who have emerged and impressed me this season are Michael Keane and Jack Barmby. That lad Januzaj looks a magic player too the few times I have seen him for us, very exciting times.

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There are probably more like 20 players in the reserves and the academy with a chance to make it. For instance Cofie, the Keanes, Morrison, Pogba, Tunnicliffe, Thorpe, Cole, Lingard, Barmby, Lawrence, Blackett, Rothwell etc to name just a few of them.

But realistically - if we get maybe 3-4 of these near the first-team - that will be good!

Cold_Boy said:

Daehli?

Wasn't he supposed to be the one of the best in Europe when we signed him (in his age group)?

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What about him? He's very good technically and has looked talented, however he's had a stop start season with international commitments and injury.

Other players have impressed more in the Academy this year so far.

Any word on Rothwell's knee?

Elliott said:

Any word on Rothwell's knee?

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3 months the word is, some murmurs about it being his hip or a mixture of both, the only concrete details I have found is the 3 month timescale.

Cold_Boy said:

Daehli?

Wasn't he supposed to be the one of the best in Europe when we signed him (in his age group)?

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United feel the amount of time Daehli has spent away with Norway has badly hampered his progress with the club according to one of the coaches on MUTV

Cheers, AC.

Brady seems to be doing well at Hull. What are Drinkwater's chances? First team football seems to have bought him on a lot. Seemed one of the better players in the pre-season.

any opinions on Pearson?

I'm a big fan. Skillful and very tough for such a tiny lad. Easy to see why he's highly rated within the England set-up. Also, he looks really cool.