United's talented youth level signings this window

Canuckred64

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I know it does not help the present situation at United or improve the current starting 11, but shouldn't somebody at United get some credit for bringing in a lot of talented youngsters?

Man Utd have been very aggressive in the youth-level transfer market: Marc Jurado (Barca), Alejandro Garnacho (Atletico), Charlie McNeill ( Man City), Álvaro Fernandez (Real Madrid), Willy Kambwala (Sochaux), Amad Traore ( Atalanta) and Facundo Pellistei ( Penarol)
 

Lash

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Problem is, you can only get credit if they turn out to be good investments. Right now they are going to have no impact on the first team, which is the money maker. They're very unlikely to have much of an impact for a while as well.
 

spiriticon

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If any of them turn out more than 25 times for the first team it will be an achievement. Let's see where they are in 3 years.

Actually never mind them, I wonder where the first team will be in 3 years.
 

cyberman

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It shows some serious forward thinking. We have been crying out for this approach for year now. Credit where its due.
We could feck up every window for the next 3 seasons and still have some serious talent in the squad if we handle them correctly.
 

esmufc07

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From the moment I got to Manchester United, I thought of only one thing: building a football club. I wanted to build right from the bottom. That was in order to create fluency and a continuity of supply to the first team. With this approach, the players all grow up together, producing a bond that, in turn, creates a spirit.

When I arrived, only one player on the first team was under 24. Can you imagine that, for a club like Manchester United? I knew that a focus on youth would fit the club’s history, and my earlier coaching experience told me that winning with young players could be done and that I was good at working with them. So I had the confidence and conviction that if United was going to mean anything again, rebuilding the youth structure was crucial. You could say it was brave, but fortune favors the brave.

The first thought of 99% of newly appointed managers is to make sure they win—to survive. So they bring experienced players in. That’s simply because we’re in a results-driven industry. At some clubs, you need only to lose three games in a row, and you’re fired. In today’s football world, with a new breed of directors and owners, I am not sure any club would have the patience to wait for a manager to build a team over a four-year period.

Winning a game is only a short-term gain—you can lose the next game. Building a club brings stability and consistency. You don’t ever want to take your eyes off the first team, but our youth development efforts ended up leading to our many successes in the 1990s and early 2000s. The young players really became the spirit of the club.

I always take great pride in seeing younger players develop. The job of a manager, like that of a teacher, is to inspire people to be better. Give them better technical skills, make them winners, make them better people, and they can go anywhere in life. When you give young people a chance, you not only create a longer life span for the team, you also create loyalty. They will always remember that you were the manager who gave them their first opportunity. Once they know you are batting for them, they will accept your way. You’re really fostering a sense of family. If you give young people your attention and an opportunity to succeed, it is amazing how much they will surprise you.
 

charlenefan

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I'd love to think in 3 or 4 years time there's blog posts about what a good future planning the club has done with these signings but let's be honest it's highly unlikely
 

croadyman

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I'd love to think in 3 or 4 years time there's blog posts about what a good future planning the club has done with these signings but let's be honest it's highly unlikely
Yeah would so like that to be the case
 

Maureen-yo

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A society (club) grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit..Let's hope this is the case here. If these players live up to their potential then we won't have to spunk (or not) £120 million on them in 4 years.
 

Siorac

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Problem is, you can only get credit if they turn out to be good investments. Right now they are going to have no impact on the first team, which is the money maker. They're very unlikely to have much of an impact for a while as well.
And to add to this: while some of these are really just cheap punts on talented youngsters who may or may not make it, we apparently paid something in the region of €30m for Amad Traoré. That is a serious outlay for an 18-year-old with 3 (three) Serie A appearances to his name.

I don't mind United taking risks like that; he could turn out to be a bargain after all. But at the moment I can't really say the club deserves credit for it. Let's wait and see.
 

Jibbs

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It does not solve anything, Madrid signed how many youth players from Brazil, how did they turn out?
United is a struggling side right now, we needed first xi signings which would improve the side and provide depth to it. VdB is one such signing.
Sarr or Dembele would have been another similar signings.
I hope these youngsters turn out to be next Ronaldo and Messi. But right now we needed a Nani or a Valencia of 09 - 11 more.
 

Rozay

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I'd love to think in 3 or 4 years time there's blog posts about what a good future planning the club has done with these signings but let's be honest it's highly unlikely
Why is it unlikely? It is entirely feasible. Your eyes are not deceiving you, and you are allowed to say it - we are doing a good thing and investing in our future by signing talented young players. I can’t see how signing top young players is ‘highly unlikely’ to be spoken about positively in the future.
 

charlenefan

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Why is it unlikely? It is entirely feasible. Your eyes are not deceiving you, and you are allowed to say it - we are doing a good thing and investing in our future by signing talented young players. I can’t see how signing top young players is ‘highly unlikely’ to be spoken about positively in the future.
It's only spoken about if these kids end up being good enough and that's a big ask
 

croadyman

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It does not solve anything, Madrid signed how many youth players from Brazil, how did they turn out?
United is a struggling side right now, we needed first xi signings which would improve the side and provide depth to it. VdB is one such signing.
Sarr or Dembele would have Yeah another similar signings.
I hope these youngsters turn out to be next Ronaldo and Messi. But right now we needed a Nani or a Valencia of 09 - 11 more.
Maybe we still go for Sarr before Oct 16
 

Rozay

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It's only spoken about if these kids end up being good enough and that's a big ask
Of course, but they are amongst the best kids now, so I can’t see how it is highly unlikely that the strategy of signing the best will not be viewed positively in a few years. Not that they are guaranteed of course.
 

Ekeke

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Amad Diallo is the only one thats for sure going to break into the first team, at some point. So no too early to say if most of these were great pickups. Love what I've seen so far from Hansen-Aaroen for the youth though, hopefully he'll get to the first team same as Mejbri
 

Pav1878

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I think we should play the youth players and settle the seniors into that team over time the dicks.
 

jesperjaap

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Personally think its brilliant, if Mengi doesnt make it Kanbwala may be ready to take the place of jOnes and Rojo in the squad in a couple of years time
 

passing-wind

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I don't really congratulate the signings due to the timings unless they are on the brink of being talented enough to end up in the first team. Ole's not an established manager so he's going to continually have pressure to get results, he's not going to give excessive game time to the youth over the more experienced influential players. We could end up in a repeat situation of Gomes and or end up in a state that Chelsea have which is essentially a waste of resources.

Also what is the directives with our youth ethos ? As far as I'm concerned the initial emphasis on youth came solely from Solskjaer's ideology. If he's then sacked in a few months time what happens with the direction of this investment ? We left with a potential manager who's got a completely different approach and this is Ole prior to lacking one thing and that's a DOF.
 

KungPaoChicken

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You probably forgot one of the most talentet youth signings in Isak hansen-aaroen. Only reason why that transfer has been flying a bit under the radar is since the player has had some sort of gentlemans agreement on signing with the club at the age of 16(which he did on the day he turned 16) He has been over to manchester several times to train over the last few years and had it not been for said gentlemans agreement pretty much every single top club in europe would be after his signature this window.
 
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DevilRed

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I think some of the people who criticized that we weren’t sticking to our culture of signing young players are now backtracking.

After the Cavani signing we were hearing a lot of chirping but Cavani was signed as a stop gap and replacement for Ighalo. He won’t be here too long.

Traore, Facundo and even Donny represent our faith in youth. High hopes for all 3 to develop into world class players. We also clearly have Sancho in mind when making these moves. The right wing spot is still his for the taking
 

Leethal

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Whilst I'm all for adding youngsters, it's our first team that is a steaming pile of shite and needs addressing. Why are we spending money on investments for the future, when it's the present that is a huge shit show?
 

croadyman

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I hope not. We have enough average players in the club, without adding more.
Would say if we don't that suggests we still have hope of another go at Sancho,however surely Sarr is better than throwing in this Uruguayan kid
 

MrBest

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Like others have said, i can see Amad Troure getting into the team from Jan, he looks special but then again, 3 games in Seria A. I hope he plays more, will be like a mini loan. Pellistri looks good but i get the sense he needs to bulk up some more but i can also see him getting games ahead of James. For now, he is our most recognised right winger after Greenwood. Two 18 year olds on the right wing, both raw talents with a long way to go. It is going to be a very long season. I have no hope for Sancho now, these two youngsters confirm that plus we have Chong on loan too. In 2 years we may look back and think, wow, great business, but for now, we didn't address what we needed to and signed a few unheard of, but promising wingers as a smokescreen. That is man utd marketing all over, pathetic, institutional and too long term.
 

littlepeasoup

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Give peas a chance.
Really happy with our investment in youth, and young exciting prospects, however the way we've signed these two new lads specifically so late in the transfer window makes me wary - as if they were really transfers we'd had planned out further down the line, but had to accelerate them to make it look like we were being proactive.
 

Leethal

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Would say if we don't that suggests we still have hope of another go at Sancho,however surely Sarr is better than throwing in this Uruguayan kid
Neither to be honest with you mate. Buying shite is why our current first team is the mess it currently is. We're better off getting no one, and bringing someone who is of standard in at a later date. If we throw a bandage on the position, we will move onto some other position that needs addressing more, and before you know it, there is bandages everywhere.
 

Leethal

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Like others have said, i can see Amad Troure getting into the team from Jan, he looks special but then again, 3 games in Seria A. I hope he plays more, will be like a mini loan.
Why would Atalanta bleed him in when they could use that time on a player that's going to be there for the long term? I can understand if he was already a first team player and offered something, but he's not.
 

Red_toad

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I know it does not help the present situation at United or improve the current starting 11, but shouldn't somebody at United get some credit for bringing in a lot of talented youngsters?

Man Utd have been very aggressive in the youth-level transfer market: Marc Jurado (Barca), Alejandro Garnacho (Atletico), Charlie McNeill ( Man City), Álvaro Fernandez (Real Madrid), Willy Kambwala (Sochaux), Amad Traore ( Atalanta) and Facundo Pellistei ( Penarol)
Lets hope a few of them have a Greenwood break through season. Is going to be very difficult bringing them into such a dysfunctional team.

Fernandez looks exceptional from what I've seen so far, mature physically and mentally.
 

Sweet Square

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From the moment I got to Manchester United, I thought of only one thing: building a football club. I wanted to build right from the bottom. That was in order to create fluency and a continuity of supply to the first team. With this approach, the players all grow up together, producing a bond that, in turn, creates a spirit.

When I arrived, only one player on the first team was under 24. Can you imagine that, for a club like Manchester United? I knew that a focus on youth would fit the club’s history, and my earlier coaching experience told me that winning with young players could be done and that I was good at working with them. So I had the confidence and conviction that if United was going to mean anything again, rebuilding the youth structure was crucial. You could say it was brave, but fortune favors the brave.

The first thought of 99% of newly appointed managers is to make sure they win—to survive. So they bring experienced players in. That’s simply because we’re in a results-driven industry. At some clubs, you need only to lose three games in a row, and you’re fired. In today’s football world, with a new breed of directors and owners, I am not sure any club would have the patience to wait for a manager to build a team over a four-year period.

Winning a game is only a short-term gain—you can lose the next game. Building a club brings stability and consistency. You don’t ever want to take your eyes off the first team, but our youth development efforts ended up leading to our many successes in the 1990s and early 2000s. The young players really became the spirit of the club.

I always take great pride in seeing younger players develop. The job of a manager, like that of a teacher, is to inspire people to be better. Give them better technical skills, make them winners, make them better people, and they can go anywhere in life. When you give young people a chance, you not only create a longer life span for the team, you also create loyalty. They will always remember that you were the manager who gave them their first opportunity. Once they know you are batting for them, they will accept your way. You’re really fostering a sense of family. If you give young people your attention and an opportunity to succeed, it is amazing how much they will surprise you.
Shut it grandpa. I want my gold edition Neymar and I want it NOW!!!
 

MrBest

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Why would Atalanta bleed him in when they could use that time on a player that's going to be there for the long term? I can understand if he was already a first team player and offered something, but he's not.
I am just being hopeful, all I have left after this window.
 

Cloud7

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It shows some serious forward thinking. We have been crying out for this approach for year now. Credit where its due.
We could feck up every window for the next 3 seasons and still have some serious talent in the squad if we handle them correctly.
Agreed. And worst case scenario if they're not good enough, we sell them on and make some money. I've been crying out for us to take this approach for quite some time now. I loathe to call it the Chelsea approach, but, well that is a good way to describe it. Get as many talented youngsters in as possible and make it work for us, one way or another.
 

Cloud7

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Ole's not an established manager so he's going to continually have pressure to get results, he's not going to give excessive game time to the youth over the more experienced influential players.
The thing with this is, who are the more experienced players? In terms of wingers, no one is going to fault Ole for playing one of our new youth players over Lingard or James or Mata.
 

Mockney

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We seem to have two very different scouting departments

A youth scouting department genuinely devoted to rooting out the best young and promising talent from around the world

...and a first team scouting department who’ve learned how to type “best footballer+position” into the Google bar, but haven’t yet learnt that there can be more than one page to the results.

In truth it’s a crap shoot with young players, and we’d be lucky if half of them make it in any form. You also get the feeling that announcements like this wouldnt be so publicly touted and announced like first team acquisitions if the club wasn’t desperately running damage control....a player like Pellestri shouldn’t really be considered a summer signing.
 
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SmashedHombre

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You forgot Pye and Hugill, who have looked impressive so far, and Hansen-Aarøen who some might argue is the most talented of the bunch. Ten youth players in one season is a serious statement of intent and makes for very exciting times. Our U-23 in th next 12/18 months should be something special.