We’ve lost so many of our academy graduates in recent years, a hugely concerning amount, some of which we thought would always be here, but, in many cases, are now flourishing away from United - McTominay, Greenwood, Gomes, Garner, Tuanzebe, Carreras, Pereira, Henderson, Elanga, Rashford, with Garnacho to follow. Apart from being an terrible indictment of the club, and how it’s failed to nurture this young talent properly, the financial implications of this combined failure are massive - it’s not as though we got top dollar for any of them.
The rot actually set in while Fergie was here, our supposed future stars, Morrison and Pogba, both frustratingly lost for different reasons. Then there was Januzaj, for whom there were such big expectations, before Lingard became an ongoing drama.
Now I worry that at some point this season the club could put out a matchday squad without any home-grown players. Yesterdays squad only included unused subs, Mainoo (who was the subject of transfer speculation as well), Fredricson, plus Heaton, and two academy players to recently breakthrough, Collyer and Amass, have gone out on loan (not forgetting Jonny Evans, now retired). That leaves us really thin on the ground - even the two top prospects we can call upon, Heaven and Obi, both came through Arsenal’s academy, not ours.
With Onana fit again and the possibility of a new keeper being brought in, Heaton is but a stopgap sub. Mazraoui or Martinez returning would surely take Fredricson’s place, and then, if we’re lucky, there might be a new midfielder to accommodate, so someone will lose out there. Mainoo could well be last man standing in some scenarios.
There’ll obviously be injuries, which will open up places for younger players, but there isn’t anyone obvious ready to make the step up, nobody on the tour that jumped out. Leaving aside Garnacho, Sancho, Anthony, Malacia and now it seems Hojlund, we have, I make it, 22 non-academy players in the squad, maybe more by the end of the transfer window. There doesn’t seem to be much room for youth development, especially with Amorim in a pressure-cooker situation, and possibly fighting for his job if upcoming results go badly.
In a hypothetical situation where, let’s say, some/all of the above happened and Mainoo picked up an injury, would it be right to name an academy player on the bench, just to continue the record, at the expense of a more senior squad player who would otherwise be selected, manipulating the statistic by picking someone to preserve the record, rather than on merit?
The rot actually set in while Fergie was here, our supposed future stars, Morrison and Pogba, both frustratingly lost for different reasons. Then there was Januzaj, for whom there were such big expectations, before Lingard became an ongoing drama.
Now I worry that at some point this season the club could put out a matchday squad without any home-grown players. Yesterdays squad only included unused subs, Mainoo (who was the subject of transfer speculation as well), Fredricson, plus Heaton, and two academy players to recently breakthrough, Collyer and Amass, have gone out on loan (not forgetting Jonny Evans, now retired). That leaves us really thin on the ground - even the two top prospects we can call upon, Heaven and Obi, both came through Arsenal’s academy, not ours.
With Onana fit again and the possibility of a new keeper being brought in, Heaton is but a stopgap sub. Mazraoui or Martinez returning would surely take Fredricson’s place, and then, if we’re lucky, there might be a new midfielder to accommodate, so someone will lose out there. Mainoo could well be last man standing in some scenarios.
There’ll obviously be injuries, which will open up places for younger players, but there isn’t anyone obvious ready to make the step up, nobody on the tour that jumped out. Leaving aside Garnacho, Sancho, Anthony, Malacia and now it seems Hojlund, we have, I make it, 22 non-academy players in the squad, maybe more by the end of the transfer window. There doesn’t seem to be much room for youth development, especially with Amorim in a pressure-cooker situation, and possibly fighting for his job if upcoming results go badly.
In a hypothetical situation where, let’s say, some/all of the above happened and Mainoo picked up an injury, would it be right to name an academy player on the bench, just to continue the record, at the expense of a more senior squad player who would otherwise be selected, manipulating the statistic by picking someone to preserve the record, rather than on merit?
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