Mats Møller Dæhli

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jb8521

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Apparently Daehli has been training with Molde over the summer to stay sharp. Great attitude
 

Mr Anderson

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Cool. Where did you read that? If true as you say great attitude! Someone who just enjoys playing football, rare in youngsters these days it seems!
 

Crustanoid

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Wonder when his agent will say he's disillusioned and looking for a move to get more playing time / a bigger contract
 

Elliott

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Says his confidence took a hit when he came to Manchester as he found it hard to be one of many talents as opposed to the main guy. The turnaround came around Xmas when he finally felt ready to start expressing himself in his new surroundings and he's really looking forward to being one of the leaders of this year's academy side, as well as pushing for a reserve team spot. All in all, he's delighted with his first season at United and very proud of being named PotY.
 

Eirik Raude

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Apparently Daehli has been training with Molde over the summer to stay sharp. Great attitude
It's not the first time he's spent time training with Molde. It's the most obvious place to go for him when he's in Norway and wants to stay in shape, because of Ole.

So on a scale of Paul McShane to Ravel Morrison?
Mats Dæhli.
 

Jimy_Hills_Chin

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So on a scale of Paul McShane to Ravel Morrison?
He has great close control, technique and looks an intelligent players. In the games that I have seen him play in he always starts really well and then fades, I don't know if this has anything to do with his summer training. He is gifted but it seems too early to tell with him.
 

Nani Nana

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Lots of hype building on around this player, Indian fans going as far as to say he could be the New Dæhli
 

Burrow

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I translated this article about him from a Norwegian site:

After a rocky start in Manchester United, Mats Møller Dæhli (17) returned to find himself in a leading role in the youth team after the summer break.

That Manchester United are happy with the Norwegian midfielder is obvious; Because only a month ago, he became "Academy player of the year" in one of the biggest clubs in the world. Previous winners of this award are the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Danny Welbeck.

"To receive that award was amazing. To look at the names of some of the previous winners.. You just dont realise how big of a deal this is" he said about the award.

"Could you really believe it?"

"I've experienced something similar when I was younger. When I was playing for the national youth team, I got the award as the player of the tournament, and this was a competition with teams like Netherlands and Portugal. I got sort of the same feeling then as I did now. 'Am I really that good?' It was huge. And the award really shows that the club got faith in me which is comforting."

The 17 year old signed a youth contract with Manchester United a year and a half ago, and this year he got his reward after impressing as a first year player in the u18s. His reward was to sign a pro-contract in the office of Sir Alex Ferguson on his birthday in March.

After that, he got his debut for the United reserves, where he hopes to get more chances next season.

"I signed for United to test myself at a higher level, and to demand more of myself. Noone in Norway really expected much from me and I sort of slide through it all. It's not a bad thing though, as I've been able to play around and enjoy myself aswell as working on things that I wanted to be good at. But I left Norway to really test myself, and the place to do that is in Manchester United. Even though it's very mentally draining and demanding.

It's really rough. Your legs get tired but the coaches dont care. You are expected to perform every single time, and they are testing you aswell. You might get completely shunned out of the team, and they wont talk to you for a month to see how you respond to that sort of treatment. They are testing these tiny details all the time, which can be very demanding as a young player.

The coaches dont really talk to us that often either. When they finally say something to you, it means alot if it's praise. Which I think it's a good thing. Then they start to pick on these tiny details about which part of your play you need to improve. They were extremely happy with me in my first year though, and it's really been above all of my expectations.

It's been a long season for me though. It took a while to really get into things, and I was struggling with my confidence early on. I had to get back to the player I was back in Norway, and I put alot of work into that. Then December came, and I really started to feel good. For me personally, it's been a very good season."

MMD about going from being a huge talent in Norway to be one of many in United:

"It's really different. It's all about fighting for a place in the team and in the club but I feel like I've managed that so far. When I return after the break, I will have much more responsibilty then I had this season and sort of become of the leaders in the team. I enjoy that though, as you'll get respected when you do well. It's all about performing, it's really all there is to it."

MMD about all the praise he's been getting:

"I try not to think about it, and rather train hard and try to develop as I've done so far. I know that I'm far from good enough yet, and that I'm not the player that I hope to become one day. I dont want to take any shortcuts though, but I want to become a different sort of player and change my way of play. I guess we should just wait and see if I can manage to do that."

MMD about living alongside the stars in Manchester United:

"You train next to them, eat next to them, got a lockeroom next to them and pass them all the time in the hallways. We share a fitnessroom with all of them, and we talk to them all the time. The days where the rookies would shine the shoes of the older players are long gone, and we're all a tight bunch in United. I think that's one of the reasons why the club is as great as it is: Because everybody involved with the club is so close. The players in the first team will come and watch us in the Youth Cup and ask us how we're doing. It means alot to us. They are extremely focused to promote youth and take alot of pride in exactly that."
 

RyanGoggs

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Great interview and says all the right stuff. As long as he knuckles down and works hard then he has a great chance of making it here in my opinion
 

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Cheers Burrow.

Anyone got any guesses as to what kind of player he wants to become?
 

Burrow

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Cheers Burrow.

Anyone got any guesses as to what kind of player he wants to become?
Right now he's more of an attacking midfielder, but I can imagine him wanting to become a more Pirlo/Scholes-ish player, being able to dictate the game further back on the pitch. I think I remember OGS mention something like that in an interview a year or so back.
 

fergieisold

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"It's really rough. Your legs get tired but the coaches dont care. You are expected to perform every single time, and they are testing you aswell. You might get completely shunned out of the team, and they wont talk to you for a month to see how you respond to that sort of treatment. They are testing these tiny details all the time, which can be very demanding as a young player."

I'd be a little surprised if coaches were doing this as part of a players development? Maybe Poggy is too mentally weak to handle it :smirk:
 

Mersault

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"It's really rough. Your legs get tired but the coaches dont care. You are expected to perform every single time, and they are testing you aswell. You might get completely shunned out of the team, and they wont talk to you for a month to see how you respond to that sort of treatment. They are testing these tiny details all the time, which can be very demanding as a young player."

I'd be a little surprised if coaches were doing this as part of a players development? Maybe Poggy is too mentally weak to handle it :smirk:
I think I've read about this before. It makes sense to see how they respond to adversity and show what they're made of. Could be wrong, but I seem to recall it being a lack of focus and determination in responding to exactly such challenges that were the beginning of the end for Bojan Djordic
 

Vooon

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"It's really rough. Your legs get tired but the coaches dont care. You are expected to perform every single time, and they are testing you aswell. You might get completely shunned out of the team, and they wont talk to you for a month to see how you respond to that sort of treatment. They are testing these tiny details all the time, which can be very demanding as a young player."

I'd be a little surprised if coaches were doing this as part of a players development? Maybe Poggy is too mentally weak to handle it :smirk:
That stood out for me as well. Interesting strategy to "weed out" the wrong personalities at an early stage.
 

Vooon

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There's an article on him in today's Dagbladet (in Norwegian).

To summarize:

He's been promoted to the reserves according to the scout John Vik who's aiding Dæhli in Manchester, but he thinks Dælhi will be rotated between the U18s and the reserves in order to not make the transition too hard.

Solskjær has a lot of good things to say about Dælhi's development the last year, that he's improved a lot as a footballer, and Ole thinks he has a bright future. According to Solskjær the lad reminds him of Scholes mixed with Wolf Eikrem, with a majority of Scholes in the mix.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes the coming season.
 

JakeC

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That's good news, fair play to him, 2 years younger then me.
 

Eirik Raude

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Mats has decided to take a 1 year break from international youth football, to focus on the task he's got at United after being promoted to the reserves this season. According to his agent this is not something he's doing on a recommendation from the club, but is 100 % his own decision. He would be involved with the Norwegian U18s this week if it wasn't for this decision.

- For Mats to become the football player he wants, he has to prioritise, says Solbakken (the agent).

Head of professional football in the Norwegian FA, Nils Johan Semb, says that it is a choice the player has to make.

- My experience from Norway and those I've talked to abroad is that young players are better off playing for their club and national team, to get international experience. The international arena is very important for the young players, it's the way to go, says Semb.

- There will be no lack of international experience at Manchester United, says agent Solbakken.
 

Donut

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This lad seems really dedicated. Hopefully he makes it.
 

prateik

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He is a kid.. Shouldnt he be playing as many games as he can?
Its not like Norway is a long way away either.
 

Eirik Raude

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If I'm not mistaken, I seem to recall Manchester United complain about him being away with the national team too much in the start of the season or something like that. Might have something to do with it?
 

Elliott

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I think you're right about that, Eirik. Seems like a wise decision.
 

Will Absolute

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He seems to be a very determined character. But it's becoming so difficult for any young player to break into the first team at United, or any top club.
 

Hernandez - BFA

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Plus, he's one of the most talented youngsters I've personally seen in our academy for a long time. Admittedly, I only took interest on the happenings of our academy/reserves 5 years ago or so, when I was 14.

Daehli seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and adding that cruical factor to his talent, there's no reason why he shouldn't break into the first team in 2/3/4 years time. His development curve is outstanding.
 

Eirik Raude

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Plus, he's one of the most talented youngsters I've personally seen in our academy for a long time. Admittedly, I only took interest on the happenings of our academy/reserves 5 years ago or so, when I was 14.

Daehli seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and adding that cruical factor to his talent, there's no reason why he shouldn't break into the first team in 2/3/4 years time. His development curve is outstanding.
I agree that if his development continues to be as good for another two seasons,he should at least be given a chance to earn his place in the first team squad.
 

Burrow

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Give him a year in the reserves, then loan him out to Molde, then he should be ready for a loan in England :drool:
 

Burrow

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Another interview I translated from the Norwegian supporter site, United.no. Warren Joyce has been talking about our favorite academy player :angel:

Norwegian Mats Møller Dæhli was seated on the bench during the entire game when the United reserves drew 1-1 away to Curzon Ashton wedensday night. That was as expected, as the Norwegian played an academy game against Stoke on Saturday. His presence on the bench on Wedensday was purely as a backup incase of injuries.

However, coach for the Reserves Warren Joyce is full of praise for the midfielder.

-"His attitude has been first class. Everything he's done this summer with the reserves has been first class. Even the physical. He has run most of the lads into the ground this summer. It has simply been a pleasure having him in the team".

-"Talk about attitude and dedication. He knew he wasnt supposed to play against Curzon, but he still wanted to join. He's just that eager and really wants to be a part of the team. He even did that right after he completed a good training session with the first-team earlier that day. He'll do whatever it takes to succeed, you can say that he's desperate for success which is a great thing."

Dæhlie transfered to United a year and a half ago, and was awared the academy player of the year in his first complete season. He was a focal point in a very young United-team who managed to get to the semi finals in the prestigious FA Youth Cup. Many expected that he would have another team with the academy, but surprisingly enough he got the callup to the reserves - at the tender age of 17.
This is reason why he has chosen to take a break from playing with the national team, as it takes time and dedication to have success in United. As Dæhli said last year, the days mainly consist of training and rest. This is why he is doing everything to become the 6th Norwegian ever to play an official first-team match for Manchester United.
A debut in the Carling Cup might still be too early, but now he gets the chance to train regularly with the first team, and stars like Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa.

-"There are certainly aspects he needs to work out. Mainly in his positional play. It's also about him playing against bigger men, who are able to stop you from playing your own game. This way he needs to learn when to beat a man and when pass the ball - at the same time as he is able to show off his technical attributes."

The 17 year old will train with the reserves the next year, but he will probably play for both the Academy and the u21s.

While most of us puts our focus on the matches, Joyce dont think that the matches are the most important for Mats.
"-Mats is training with the reserves all the time now, and even the first team once in a while. I would say that his development gains more from these training-sessions than the games. This is because he'll train with older and stronger players who are able to move the ball around quicker, which is why it's important that he's able to train with a high tempo every day.".

How do he perform in training against the first teamers?
"It's more about techical exercises, like not giving the ball away or play on a smaller pitch. If he's taking part in those sessions he got no problems what so ever. After all, he knows perfectly well how to handle a ball. He's an intelligent player and has performed very well against the first teamers in those sorts of training sessions. He's doing well, but then again we know that football is played on bigger pitches which is where he needs to make the right decisions and do the right things at the right time.

How is he developing physically?
"His body can obviously be improved on, but he's taking every advice we give him into account. In terms of fitness, he has been having a great summer and taking great strides. He never gives up, and stays on the training field until he simply cannot do any more. And that is pretty much everything he can do, which means that he'll improve slightly every single day. But yeah, he can certainly improve physically."

Joyce is saying that it's still unknown what will happen with the best and more experienced reserve-players. If players like Jesse Lingard, Larnell Cole and the likes go out on loan, the road to reserve-team football will obviously become shorter for Dælhi. The reserve coach underlines however that opportunities will arrive at some time, as long as you perform.
"It's all about quality. The best will get to play, no matter if they are 17 or 20."
 
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