There have been reports in the Belgian (Flemish) media - Het Laatste Nieuws - that United are in exploratory talks with Belgian club AA Gent (Ghent in English) over a strategic loan partnership for South American players. Gent have a state-of-the are ground and are currently third in the Belgian league. Back in 1998, the link with Antwerp was announced with exactly the same objectives. That never worked for any number of reasons - but it did prove useful for young British players to get experience: Higginbotham, O'Shea, Campbell, Evans, Shawcross, Gibson etc.
Belgian link revisited - Gent this time?
- Thread starter mista john
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Sounds like a good idea. Chelsea used to have some sort of agreement with PSV. I thought United were trying to agree to a partnership with some Dutch team, but nothing materialized. Maybe United will finally bring over some of those Brazilian lads that were seated at Old Trafford a few years back
And Genk get the advantage of good young talents. They were probably jealous of Royal Antwerp back in the day, now they're hoping to get their hands on talents like Lee Martin, John Cofie and Dong Fangzhuo
And Genk get the advantage of good young talents. They were probably jealous of Royal Antwerp back in the day, now they're hoping to get their hands on talents like Lee Martin, John Cofie and Dong Fangzhuo
two different teams, but agree, I think these days, it is essential that a young player is loaned abroad to develop further (that is to say they're not first team squad integration ready, already).
EDIT: I mean the above, in the case of English/British young players
Would be useful to have provided Gent are willing to develop the players and actually give them game time at the same time.
Its with Vitesse Arnhem and the bond is very strong.
Be careful - Gent and Racing Genk are different clubs, both are in the so-called 'big five' in Belgium; along with Anderlecht, Standard Liege and Club Brugge. Genk currently coached by Alex McCleish. Also, the story so far is that United want to bring S. American players into Europe (to Gent) on loan rather than find a club where they can loan out their current crop of youngsters (where they are already covered I guess).
Awwww
This would be a logical step towards Ed's goal of improving our early recruitment strategy. Very interesting.
Would be good for the likes of Pearson etc.
But they had something with PSV aswell. Rajković and Alex are examples.
We have something with Twente, but Gladstony was the best use of it, and no one knows who Gladstony is.
We should just call Gent "Ghent" so they won't be mistaken with Genk. We're saying "AC Milan", not "AC Milano", don't we?
Yeah, I know, my English sucks, use of "something" everywhere says that. :P
I hope this is true as I think we need to look at ways to improve and widen our player recruitment, if we were to sign top talent from South America and then loan them to Ghent it would only be a matter of time until we unearthed a very good player or two.. A lot of players go to Portugal for reasonable fees and then the price goes through the roof after a year or two (even less with someone like Talisca). Of course it won’t always work out but with this form of relationship we might have been prepared to sign James Rodriguez before he joined Porto and it only takes one player like that to make the whole thing a success.
We had the right idea with the link to Antwerp we made previously but we didn’t commit the funds to it, we need to copy the Chelsea model and start investing in overseas talent consistently, with the money coming into the club investing £10-12m (less or more if required) a year in up and coming talent all over the world represents low risk with potentially high reward.
We had the right idea with the link to Antwerp we made previously but we didn’t commit the funds to it, we need to copy the Chelsea model and start investing in overseas talent consistently, with the money coming into the club investing £10-12m (less or more if required) a year in up and coming talent all over the world represents low risk with potentially high reward.
If this can really help us get the best of the Brazilian talent ,what's not to like . But i'm not sure it will work out that way.
I agree with this we had the right idea with Antwerp but tried to do it on the cheap. It would be great for young players development if we could do it with a club who can make it into Europe every season. I wouldnt be surprised if this happens given the number of young South Americans we've had on trial in the past year. It would also mean we could sign other non E.U. players not just South Americans.
It's a smart link up for United. Seems as they've realized that the Chelsea strategy used at Vitesse has helped them circulate prospects, get money for FFP, and obtain Visas for non EU citizens. The Pro League has essentially very similar to the Eredivise in that there are a lot of players in the 16-21 bracket who play and even start for teams in the Pro League. It's also going to open up things for a lot of north African type talent as Belgium has quite a burgeoning North African immigrant populous (Moroccan, Algerian) along with their to be expected ties to the Congo et al.
Would be worth it just for the loan spells - the U21 system in this country is all but broken, so the opportunity to send the best players for some regular quality football at a quality club would be fantastic. And if it also makes it easier to sign non-EU talent, all the better.
I don't see us ever establishing a talent mill like Chelsea, because it goes against all the principles that our youth system is built on. I wouldn't want us to, either. The income from that strategy would be a drop in a bucket compared to our commercial deals anyway - Chelsea only do it because their less impressive commercial income makes them vulnerable to FFP.
I don't see us ever establishing a talent mill like Chelsea, because it goes against all the principles that our youth system is built on. I wouldn't want us to, either. The income from that strategy would be a drop in a bucket compared to our commercial deals anyway - Chelsea only do it because their less impressive commercial income makes them vulnerable to FFP.
Would be great.We have a lot of 15-16 yo trialists from South America plus our connection with Depostivo Brasil but can't utilise it so far with the minimum age to sign them is 18 (and even if they're 18 they must have a work permit).Plus we can also send some of our youngsters to them especially foreign ones who's very hard to be loaned out to a Championship/PL team.
Seems a good idea.
Antwerp actually had some good benefits too and was done on too much cheap anyway.
Antwerp actually had some good benefits too and was done on too much cheap anyway.
An hour away from Brussels, just like Antwerp. Playing in the top division, unlike Antwerp. They currently have 3 Brazilians playing for them already. Seems an entirely logical move.
Interesting facts about the city of Ghent according to Wikipedia: Bradley Wiggins and Kevin De Bruyne were both born there. It is twinned with Nottingham.
Turns out Gent's captain is a gentleman by the name of Sven Kums too.
Interesting facts about the city of Ghent according to Wikipedia: Bradley Wiggins and Kevin De Bruyne were both born there. It is twinned with Nottingham.
Turns out Gent's captain is a gentleman by the name of Sven Kums too.
I wouldnt be surprised if this does go through. Gent signed highly rated 19 year old Nigerian striker/winger Moses Simon a few weeks ago and hes scored 4 goals in the past 2 games
Gent have signed a 2nd highly rated young Nigerian named Sadeeq Yusuf. Apparently he was wanted by Liverpool, Juventus and Ajax. They also had Luis Hernandez a 17 year old Costa Rican who is close to signing for United playing for them in an u19 tournament last summer. I think the rumors of a link up are quite likely to be real. Moses Simon now has 6 goals and 2 assists in his first 7 games for them.
He was called the Nigerian Cristiano Ronaldo here in Holland, had a trial at Ajax and even played some matches and heavily impressed, but because of the youth academy they didnt want to sign,good to hear that he's doing well in Belgium.
Moses is one hell of a player indeed, it's not vey often we come across such a talented young lad in our Belgian league. Only 19 years old as well, bright future ahead of him if he doesn't get injury issues.