Manchester United has long been a club famous for bringing through brilliant youngsters. Obviously the class of '92 was the best example of this, but there have been countless others over the years. In fact it seems like almost every PL game I watch features at least 2-3 ex-united academy lads, which is great in my opinion.
Recently though, I think we have been really, really poor in terms of bringing through and developing the younger players in our squad, and that is one of the factors in what is hurting us at the moment. Examples;
Cleverley - Old TC23, once thought to be the United version of Wilshere, whilst the likes of Henderson were scoffed at. Now he is the target of as much hostility and animosity as Young. Cleverley is a bit of a unique case though as he is one player who has not suffered from a lack of gametime, so perhaps not the best example.
Smalling and Jones - Both these two are in very much the same boat for me. Signed as youngsters, looked very promising. What happened? They were consistently overlooked in the first team as the aging Rio and Vidic were continually picked. Jones got some games at RB and CM, as did Smalling at RB, but neither of them ever really had the runs of games in their natural position that they needed to develop.
We see young CBs like Chambers, Caulker and Cahill who were probably again regarded as inferior to our lads, but those players were actually given games at CB consistently and have turned into good players.
The irony with Smalling & Jones of course, is that now we are without Rio and Vidic, suddenly the verdict is that these two arent good enough and are too inexperienced, when but a few short years ago there were voices crying out for them to be given more gametime.
Pogba - Not a lot needs to be said really. We didnt give him games at CM, he left. Plenty of rumours about agent fees and all that, but im pretty sure if we had played Pogba regularly in the first team he would still be here. Now he is regarded as one of the brightest young midfielders in Europe, if not the world.
Januzaj - Fantastic breakthrough season last year. Firmly in the top tier catergory of youth prospect along with the likes of Pogba and Sterling, but now seems to be struggling to get games while the other two play consistently and improve week on week.
Its early days in the season, but most fans agree that Adnan should be one of the first names on the teamsheet, and needs to be playing every week so that he can turn into the world class player that we all know he can be.
As it stands, he hasnt featured much thus far under LVG, and with the arrival of Falcao and Di Maria it can only harm his first team chances. Sterling meanwhile, plays every week and is lauded as the most exciting young player in the PL.
Welbeck - In a similar position to Smalling and Jones, struggled to get gametime, and when he did it tended to be out wide rather than up front. Obviously there has been a lot of competition for our striker roles (more now with Falcao coming in) and Danny again looks like he could be on the way out.
Welbecks comparison player? Sturridge is the obvious one. Same story that a few years ago they were regarded as equal, with many preferring Welbeck due to Sturridge's decision making and selfishness. Now of course, there is no contest as Sturridge has played regularly for Liverpool and turned into a reliable and dangerous striker. Welbeck meanwhile continues to warm the bench.
There are more players who have suffered the same sort of fate - you could argue that Blackett, James, Wilson and even Fabio have been let down a bit by the club, but the above are the best examples for me.
The running theme is that compared with players for other teams in similar roles/positions a few years ago, ours have not been developed and have stagnated as a result, whilst others have played regularly, improved and become excellent players. For a club which is meant to be known for bringing through younger players, this is unacceptable for me - and now with us signing the likes of Falcao, it seems to me that the club no longer values the development of our younger players.
Its early days in this season, but I am not exclusively referring to this season - the examples I have given are for players who 3-5 years ago were regarded as far better prospects/players than they have now become (the exception being Januzaj who was relatively unknown 5 years ago, but is also in danger of stagnating due to lack of gametime).
Recently though, I think we have been really, really poor in terms of bringing through and developing the younger players in our squad, and that is one of the factors in what is hurting us at the moment. Examples;
Cleverley - Old TC23, once thought to be the United version of Wilshere, whilst the likes of Henderson were scoffed at. Now he is the target of as much hostility and animosity as Young. Cleverley is a bit of a unique case though as he is one player who has not suffered from a lack of gametime, so perhaps not the best example.
Smalling and Jones - Both these two are in very much the same boat for me. Signed as youngsters, looked very promising. What happened? They were consistently overlooked in the first team as the aging Rio and Vidic were continually picked. Jones got some games at RB and CM, as did Smalling at RB, but neither of them ever really had the runs of games in their natural position that they needed to develop.
We see young CBs like Chambers, Caulker and Cahill who were probably again regarded as inferior to our lads, but those players were actually given games at CB consistently and have turned into good players.
The irony with Smalling & Jones of course, is that now we are without Rio and Vidic, suddenly the verdict is that these two arent good enough and are too inexperienced, when but a few short years ago there were voices crying out for them to be given more gametime.
Pogba - Not a lot needs to be said really. We didnt give him games at CM, he left. Plenty of rumours about agent fees and all that, but im pretty sure if we had played Pogba regularly in the first team he would still be here. Now he is regarded as one of the brightest young midfielders in Europe, if not the world.
Januzaj - Fantastic breakthrough season last year. Firmly in the top tier catergory of youth prospect along with the likes of Pogba and Sterling, but now seems to be struggling to get games while the other two play consistently and improve week on week.
Its early days in the season, but most fans agree that Adnan should be one of the first names on the teamsheet, and needs to be playing every week so that he can turn into the world class player that we all know he can be.
As it stands, he hasnt featured much thus far under LVG, and with the arrival of Falcao and Di Maria it can only harm his first team chances. Sterling meanwhile, plays every week and is lauded as the most exciting young player in the PL.
Welbeck - In a similar position to Smalling and Jones, struggled to get gametime, and when he did it tended to be out wide rather than up front. Obviously there has been a lot of competition for our striker roles (more now with Falcao coming in) and Danny again looks like he could be on the way out.
Welbecks comparison player? Sturridge is the obvious one. Same story that a few years ago they were regarded as equal, with many preferring Welbeck due to Sturridge's decision making and selfishness. Now of course, there is no contest as Sturridge has played regularly for Liverpool and turned into a reliable and dangerous striker. Welbeck meanwhile continues to warm the bench.
There are more players who have suffered the same sort of fate - you could argue that Blackett, James, Wilson and even Fabio have been let down a bit by the club, but the above are the best examples for me.
The running theme is that compared with players for other teams in similar roles/positions a few years ago, ours have not been developed and have stagnated as a result, whilst others have played regularly, improved and become excellent players. For a club which is meant to be known for bringing through younger players, this is unacceptable for me - and now with us signing the likes of Falcao, it seems to me that the club no longer values the development of our younger players.
Its early days in this season, but I am not exclusively referring to this season - the examples I have given are for players who 3-5 years ago were regarded as far better prospects/players than they have now become (the exception being Januzaj who was relatively unknown 5 years ago, but is also in danger of stagnating due to lack of gametime).