Adnan Januzaj (18-19 and beyond)

Shiva87

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Technically he's miles ahead of Lingard, but a combination of bad attitude (reportedly), terrible moves (Sunderland and Dortmund) and injuries (this season and last) have hampered him. He's had some great games for Sociedad but also some meh ones.

He still has a level to go up imo, but if not then he's a useful squad player for a team aiming for tip 4.
Adnan has a crazy first season and he seems to have peaked there. He hasn't developed in a way that he should have. I was so excited by him - even more than my excitement when Rashford came on to the scene with all those goals in his debut games.

His fall from those heights, and Rashford's rise clearly show it has a lot more to do with attitude after a certain level of talent. Even Guiseppe Rossi did brilliantly in Spain, but he never got the chances at United. It's sad that Adnan isn't living up to his talent, and I'll be surprised if he turns it around now.
 

poleglass red

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pity about him, his talent seemed so natural and effortless, when on on song he was a joy to watch. Unfortunately talent alone is not enough at the very highest level, you need to have that fight and application and he didn't. Still only 25 as well.
 

Josh 76

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pity about him, his talent seemed so natural and effortless, when on on song he was a joy to watch. Unfortunately talent alone is not enough at the very highest level, you need to have that fight and application and he didn't. Still only 25 as well.
His skill and Daniel James pace.
Now that would be some player.
 

Jibbs

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I thought we have found our own Hazard when he burst on the scene.
 

Sassy Colin

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Nicky Butt pretty much confirms what we all knew.

"I felt Adnan should have been a world superstar. I remember speaking to Steve Bruce in the players’ lounge before a game when Ryan took over [against Hull] and I was his assistant. I said, ‘Adnan is as good as him,’ and pointed at Ryan. He said ‘no chance’. After the game Brucey said he was top, top drawer. "That was a disappointment. He’s gone on to have a career, so it’s hard to say. But I think he could have been a superstar if he’d had the mentality of Ryan."
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...ws/man-united-adnan-januzaj-transfer-17821456
 

limerickcitykid

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And that was the beginning of the problem. Trying to shoehorn him into this new Ryan Giggs role when they weren’t even close to similar players. We took him from an all around 10 at youth level and tried to change him into a kick and run winger for no reason.
 

FootballHQ

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He actually scored the winner tonight and none of you Januzaj fan boys bump this thread. :lol:

Was a good outlet besides the header so in nice period of form atm.
 

troylocker

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Very good tonight! Had a better match than Odegaard and Oyarzabal. Creds!
 

AaronRedDevil

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Watching that video above really confuses me. What the he’ll happened. His runs look so good, the moment when he did a back heel chop and beat 2 players, the sprints the ball forward beating another. What a move.
 

youngrell

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To be fair, as far as I can remember, and someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but most of his chances under LvG came as a second striker in a 3-5-2 or as a wing back. Neither role suited him greatly.
 

Web of Bissaka

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http://www.skysports.com/share/12006171

He reckons LVG didn’t give him and Memphis enough opportunities.
Thoughts ?

I’ve ignored the Pogba talk on the link as it will derail the thread.
Post on reddit said he had one goal and zero assists in 28 games under LVG.
Yes.
Transfermarkt recorded the same thing.
Januzaj​
21 + 7 appearances​
1 goal​
0 assist​

Januzaj: "Ah, Louis van Gaal. I really should not be defending myself against him, I think the statistics say it all. Every time I made the difference with an assist or a goal, I was always out of the team for the next match. It was the same with Memphis. He does not speak the truth if he says that he gave us plenty of opportunities, it's as simple as that."

Depay
45 appearances...
 

SportingCP96

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He just was never that good. He came at a time when United needed something to be excited about under the Moyes regime and this kids goals vs Sunderland sent the hype levels through the roof.
 

crossy1686

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A lot of people who've worked with him have said his mentality was the issue, which is a shame. When he was loaned to Dortmund they sent him back and said all he did was complain because they apparently weren't up to the standards at United. Maybe people get him wrong and he's just desperate to improve but he's going about expressing it in a critical way that rubs people up? What a player he looked though, gutted it's never worked out for him. Hopefully, he turns into a very late bloomer.
 

Brightonian

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Anyway yeah he was incredibly gifted. That shouldn't be written out in hindsight. In terms of technical gifts he's up there with the very top tier of youngsters to come out of our youth sides while I've been following them, along with the likes of Pogba, Rashford, and Greenwood.

What was especially frustrating is that while by all accounts it was his attitude that eventually failed him (in combination with our carousel of managers, no doubt), when he was a kid he was constantly mentioned as having a really good attitude. Very driven, extremely hard-working, well grounded. And you could see the evidence too - at each step up, he would have adapted and become one of the best players in the unit in a matter of months. Even when we had no CFs in the U21s and he was forced to play there for a few months, very much out of position, he knuckled down and scored a tonne of goals.

The problem was how quickly that excellent mentality failed him once he believed he'd 'made it'. I remember not believing it at the time. But as it turns out, it seems he became entitled, truculent and even lazy. Compare that to Rashford, who even now goes out and plays every game as if it's the only one he'll ever get.

EDIT: Of course it all went wrong under Van Gaal, an infamously bad man-manager. I'd like to think under someone like Ole, who more often than not seems to get the best out of his players, particularly young players, it could have been a very different story. He could have been the right winger we've been missing all this time.
 

Gandalf Greyhame

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Memphis probably would have had more chances had Lvg stayed. Adnan assassinated his United career with the dortmund loan.
A bit of revisionism there. It was a good move from his point of view - we were playing soul-less footie under LVG at that time, sucking the life out of our confidence-based flair players (Martial included, despite his goals). At Dortmund, the thought process was that Adnan would play in a more expressive, attack-based system. Of course, his attitude eventually let him down a slippery slope (I remember him showboating for the U21s at that time before he left), but we messed up as a club there, I feel.

These are very young impressionable players who are looking around themselves at the squad, the manager, the style on the pitch. He needed better leaders around him everywhere, and better attitude in the camp in general. Perhaps he didn't find that inspiration in himself, not everyone can. But he didn't find inspiration at the club, either. This was when Rooney looked like he was a Sunday league player, was never dropped and was being paid Sanchez money - while the likes of Di Maria were ostracized for an extra touch or a failed dribble. If we had shown the kind of confidence in Adnan that we did with Lingard (who is two years older, by the way), with similar game time we might have had a better player on our hands right now.

Just one of those things where the moment is gone and another prodigy doesn't make it because it just didn't come together for him.
 

Gandalf Greyhame

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He just was never that good. He came at a time when United needed something to be excited about under the Moyes regime and this kids goals vs Sunderland sent the hype levels through the roof.
I find it surprising to see that someone who was deemed to be incredibly gifted five years ago is now being written off as another run of the mill youngster. He was good - perhaps not as promising as Rashford or Martial, but there was definitely a player there. The coaches who've worked with him say his attitude lets him down - they never said he didn't have the talent. He had technique, great ball control, agility and a lot of flair. He would have been a very solid squad player at the very least, if managed properly.

We did the same with Zaha - there was a player in there who's showing glimpses of what he can do now - but could have been so much more under the correct man-manager (ala SAF).
 

limerickcitykid

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He’s one of the first people off the bench for a top 4 side in La Liga and typically makes the Belgium squad. There are comments here acting like he is barely playing professionally these days.
 

izec

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http://www.skysports.com/share/12006171

He reckons LVG didn’t give him and Memphis enough opportunities.
Thoughts ?

I’ve ignored the Pogba talk on the link as it will derail the thread.
he was average, just like Memphis. Both needed a step down and improved by that, but they wouldn't get the same game time and patience here. And even after all these years and improvements, they are both probably not good enough to start for a real top club.
 

Gandalf Greyhame

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he was average, just like Memphis. Both needed a step down and improved by that, but they wouldn't get the same game time and patience here. And even after all these years and improvements, they are both probably not good enough to start for a real top club.
True. Gametime was carefully reserved for better players like Lingard and Pereira
 

DWelbz19

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He’s one of the first people off the bench for a top 4 side in La Liga and typically makes the Belgium squad. There are comments here acting like he is barely playing professionally these days.
Exactly. Even if he didn’t hit the heights once promised, he’s yet another player who has come from our academy to have a very successful football career.
 

fps

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Yes.
Transfermarkt recorded the same thing.
Januzaj​
21 + 7 appearances​
1 goal​
0 assist​

Januzaj: "Ah, Louis van Gaal. I really should not be defending myself against him, I think the statistics say it all. Every time I made the difference with an assist or a goal, I was always out of the team for the next match. It was the same with Memphis. He does not speak the truth if he says that he gave us plenty of opportunities, it's as simple as that."

Depay
45 appearances...
Absolute fantasist who didn't work hard enough. Depay the same.
 

PedroMendez

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He is in his third season for La Real and other talents youngsters all took their chance (Oyarzabal, Odegaard, Isak). They have plenty of players between 20-25, who manage to pin down their starting spot. Januzaj is good enough to be a decent option for them, but not good enough to be a starter. Thats his level for the last three years. Its hard to believe that he is good enough to do it at a club, that expects to play CL each year. Even if LvG did treat him unfairly, he has shown nothing that would qualify him to play for United. He had plenty of chance to prove his worth.
 

BiggusCrickus

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Adnan, Rossi and Macheda are the reasons why i dont think we should ever loan out players to Premiership clubs. They have all come back ruined and lost there potential. Its why i never want to see Garner Greenwood Williams Chong or Gomes go out on loan. Rather they developed at Utd in the Utd way
 

Yagami

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Incredibly talented player. Shame about his mentality.

I still love watching him play anyway.

That Dortmund loan will always confuse me. Before said move, he had started all of our games that season (4 I think) in an attacking quartet of him Depay, Mata and Rooney, ahead of Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger, and was doing alright. This was just before we got Martial at the end of the window. Then he decides to go to Dortmund who were not only a better team, but had a lot more competition for attacking spots, too, instead of building on his run in the 1st team here. I believe van Gaal tried to talk him out of the loan but he was having none of it. Just silly.
 

flappyjay

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Adnan, Rossi and Macheda are the reasons why i dont think we should ever loan out players to Premiership clubs. They have all come back ruined and lost there potential. Its why i never want to see Garner Greenwood Williams Chong or Gomes go out on loan. Rather they developed at Utd in the Utd way
Choice of loan plays a part. Sending Adnan to play hoofball at Sunderland was a bad move, but the thought was Moyes who had given him his debut would be willing to give him chances. But our attacking players should be sent to teams who hold on to the ball.
 

flappyjay

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A bit of revisionism there. It was a good move from his point of view - we were playing soul-less footie under LVG at that time, sucking the life out of our confidence-based flair players (Martial included, despite his goals). At Dortmund, the thought process was that Adnan would play in a more expressive, attack-based system. Of course, his attitude eventually let him down a slippery slope (I remember him showboating for the U21s at that time before he left), but we messed up as a club there, I feel.
It's not revisionism when the loan deal was questioned by both the fan base and by Lvg at the time. He was at an age where playing time should have been his focus(Lvg couldn't promise this hence the loan). But instead he felt he was too good for midtable teams and he went to a team that was better than his parent team. Him and his agent messed up big time as they thought he was too good for the teams the clubs wanted for him. Even back then with that knowledge I was angry that Lvg didn't block the move. Everyone could see that it was a bad move except Adnan and his people.
 

meamth

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I think the tiki taka LVG style ruined him.

We have a direct style player who is coached to play systematic boring football.

If Ole was there earlier this wouldn't happen.
 

Ekeke

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Yes.
Transfermarkt recorded the same thing.
Januzaj​
21 + 7 appearances​
1 goal​
0 assist​

Januzaj: "Ah, Louis van Gaal. I really should not be defending myself against him, I think the statistics say it all. Every time I made the difference with an assist or a goal, I was always out of the team for the next match. It was the same with Memphis. He does not speak the truth if he says that he gave us plenty of opportunities, it's as simple as that."

Depay
45 appearances...
David Moyes biggest success and LVG's biggest failure.

While he was of course overhyped like most of our young players tend to be, in that first season under Moyes he showed he had the talent and potential to be a good player. Not just in the future but in that very first season where he made some crucial contributions while plenty of the senior players didnt look like they cared as much.

Every wide player we had with LVG struggled. Zaha and Nani were tried in striker roles before he gave up on them quickly, Depay looked like he couldnt shoot, Adnan didnt find end product and Mata was converted to a ball retaining CM and was never the same creative force after that.

Valencia started 29 league games with a return of 0 goals and 2 assists. Young faired slightly better with 2 goals and 5 assists on the left in 23 starts. Thats a similar end product to Daniel James this season with 3 goals and 6 assists in 25 starts.

Di Maria had started off great then by the end had clearly given up and fallen out with the manager. Our best performers were De Gea,Jones and Smalling at CB and Rooney through the middle, sometimes up front and sometimes in midfield. Ander also grabbed 6 goals and 4 assists from CM.

So yeah he failed to adapt to LVG's "philosophy" just like all the other wide players we had did with each and every one of them going on to play better in the future for another team, because most of them were still young players.