The Academy restructuring thread

Drainy

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Supposedly Ed Woodward has announced internally that we will be appointing an Operations Director and hire full time scouts going forward.

Also the youth team stadium has allegedly been given the go ahead.

Saw Mr Mujac talking about it on twitter, so I would gather that the information is somewhat reliable
 

Šjor Bepo

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just came here to post it, fantastic news!
 

Lash

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I think that's probably right for now, I imagine they need to actually get everything in place form a footballing side first before embarking on a job of that size
 

jb8521

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As far as I know the plans haven't been put on hold they're just going to take a while to actually organize given all of the planning and things like planning permission required. Seems like Jackson has just written a story in the knowledge that it will take time so then if it ended up not happening he could claim an exclusive but if it does happen with the planned time line he can still claim it should have happened sooner.
 

jb8521

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Nicky Butt has vowed to make Manchester United’s academy one of the best in the world again to rival Manchester City’s.


Butt recently succeeded Brian McClair as United’s new academy chief and accepts they have slipped behind City because of their state-of-the art youth facilities at the CFA.


But he rejects accusations that United’s academy is “a mess” and says he has already begun work to improve their set-up.


“No, it’s not in a mess,” said the 1999 Treble winner.
“I judge academies on players who are coming through and we are getting even more coming through.

“People say it’s a mess from the outside because we fell behind City because of their training complex. Yes, they have a fantastic training complex, you can’t get away from that and it is amazing.
“But ours isn’t too shabby is it? It’s not the a**e end of the world really. It’s a great place.

“Obviously it took us a while to replace Brian McClair, and obviously it’s a massive thing to replace someone like that. He did a great job. One or two people have left, but that happens in any walk of life.

“But we’ve been putting things in place over the last six months to try and kick it on.

“We may not see the benefits for another year, another season. But we are putting things in place so maybe in another year or season, we’re quite confident we’ll be up there with the best in the world.”
Butt claims the biggest incentive he can offer youngsters is the chance to make it all the way to United’s first team.

“We can offer them the chance to play for Manchester United’s first team,” he said. “That’s the best thing we can do.

“I’m not here to slag any other clubs off. They’ve got their own way of doing it and good luck to them.

“But Sir Alex did it with me and now it’s my job to look into their eyes and say ‘we will give you a pathway to play for Manchester United’s first team.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/nicky-butt-vows-manchester-united-7587600
 

Adisa

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That Express article about the club making cuts has been preven to be well and truly bullshit.
 

jb8521

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Doesn't that happen every year?
It's going to be on a larger scale than usual and with more recruitment at the younger ages below the under 18s. I wrote this on a few of the likely u18 signings a few days ago.

http://mufclatest.com/manchester-united-looking-to-add-talented-youth-to-their-academy-this-summer/

Following a disappointing season in terms of results for the U18 team Manchester United have already begun to build for next season’s campaign as the club look to bring in a number of highly promising players from all over Europe. News has come out from Holland this week that the club is likely to bring in highly rated 16-year-old Feyenoord winger Tahith Chong but he is just one of the likely signings.

United are also likely to bring in Ireland U16 captain Lee O’Connor who has already represented Ireland U17’s at just 15 years old. O’Connor is a versatile player who is capable of playing right back or right wing and has also played at centre back and centre midfield at times. He has been coming over to United for trials for the past few years. The Waterford native who currently plays for Villa F.C. was named in the Ireland U17 squad for the U17 European Championship qualifiers this week.

Another player on the club’s radar is F.C. Zürich striker Nishan Burkart. Burkart is a pacy striker who can also play on the wing. He captained the Switzerland U16 team as they beat Italy 1-0 in September where he scored the only goal of the game. He has also been named in the Switzerland U16 squad for games against Portugal, Hungary and Norway in the next week.

With Ilias Moutha Sebtaoui the only goalkeeper eligible for next year’s U18 team following the release of current U16 goalkeeper Matt Campbell the club is also on the lookout for a new goalkeeper. At the moment the most likely player to come in looks to be Hungary U16 keeper Gergely Hutvagner who plays for Vasas Kubala Academy. Hutvagner who is already 6’3″ at 15 years old spent a week on trial with United in January where he trained with the U18 team and played for the under 16’s in a game against Sunderland. He has already done interviews on Hungarian T.V. speaking about how much he enjoyed the experience of training with United.

There have also been a number of other players on trial with United in the past few months. With Angel Gomes moving up from the U16’s, Italian centre-back Luca Ercolani already signed and the likes of Callum Gribbin and Ro-Shaun Williams still eligible for the U18’s next year United’s side could be very entertaining and full of talent.
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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It's going to be on a larger scale than usual and with more recruitment at the younger ages below the under 18s. I wrote this on a few of the likely u18 signings a few days ago.

http://mufclatest.com/manchester-united-looking-to-add-talented-youth-to-their-academy-this-summer/

Following a disappointing season in terms of results for the U18 team Manchester United have already begun to build for next season’s campaign as the club look to bring in a number of highly promising players from all over Europe. News has come out from Holland this week that the club is likely to bring in highly rated 16-year-old Feyenoord winger Tahith Chong but he is just one of the likely signings.

United are also likely to bring in Ireland U16 captain Lee O’Connor who has already represented Ireland U17’s at just 15 years old. O’Connor is a versatile player who is capable of playing right back or right wing and has also played at centre back and centre midfield at times. He has been coming over to United for trials for the past few years. The Waterford native who currently plays for Villa F.C. was named in the Ireland U17 squad for the U17 European Championship qualifiers this week.

Another player on the club’s radar is F.C. Zürich striker Nishan Burkart. Burkart is a pacy striker who can also play on the wing. He captained the Switzerland U16 team as they beat Italy 1-0 in September where he scored the only goal of the game. He has also been named in the Switzerland U16 squad for games against Portugal, Hungary and Norway in the next week.

With Ilias Moutha Sebtaoui the only goalkeeper eligible for next year’s U18 team following the release of current U16 goalkeeper Matt Campbell the club is also on the lookout for a new goalkeeper. At the moment the most likely player to come in looks to be Hungary U16 keeper Gergely Hutvagner who plays for Vasas Kubala Academy. Hutvagner who is already 6’3″ at 15 years old spent a week on trial with United in January where he trained with the U18 team and played for the under 16’s in a game against Sunderland. He has already done interviews on Hungarian T.V. speaking about how much he enjoyed the experience of training with United.

There have also been a number of other players on trial with United in the past few months. With Angel Gomes moving up from the U16’s, Italian centre-back Luca Ercolani already signed and the likes of Callum Gribbin and Ro-Shaun Williams still eligible for the U18’s next year United’s side could be very entertaining and full of talent.
OK, thanks. That sounds promising.
 

spenzo

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It's going to be on a larger scale than usual and with more recruitment at the younger ages below the under 18s. I wrote this on a few of the likely u18 signings a few days ago.

http://mufclatest.com/manchester-united-looking-to-add-talented-youth-to-their-academy-this-summer/

Following a disappointing season in terms of results for the U18 team Manchester United have already begun to build for next season’s campaign as the club look to bring in a number of highly promising players from all over Europe. News has come out from Holland this week that the club is likely to bring in highly rated 16-year-old Feyenoord winger Tahith Chong but he is just one of the likely signings.

United are also likely to bring in Ireland U16 captain Lee O’Connor who has already represented Ireland U17’s at just 15 years old. O’Connor is a versatile player who is capable of playing right back or right wing and has also played at centre back and centre midfield at times. He has been coming over to United for trials for the past few years. The Waterford native who currently plays for Villa F.C. was named in the Ireland U17 squad for the U17 European Championship qualifiers this week.

Another player on the club’s radar is F.C. Zürich striker Nishan Burkart. Burkart is a pacy striker who can also play on the wing. He captained the Switzerland U16 team as they beat Italy 1-0 in September where he scored the only goal of the game. He has also been named in the Switzerland U16 squad for games against Portugal, Hungary and Norway in the next week.

With Ilias Moutha Sebtaoui the only goalkeeper eligible for next year’s U18 team following the release of current U16 goalkeeper Matt Campbell the club is also on the lookout for a new goalkeeper. At the moment the most likely player to come in looks to be Hungary U16 keeper Gergely Hutvagner who plays for Vasas Kubala Academy. Hutvagner who is already 6’3″ at 15 years old spent a week on trial with United in January where he trained with the U18 team and played for the under 16’s in a game against Sunderland. He has already done interviews on Hungarian T.V. speaking about how much he enjoyed the experience of training with United.

There have also been a number of other players on trial with United in the past few months. With Angel Gomes moving up from the U16’s, Italian centre-back Luca Ercolani already signed and the likes of Callum Gribbin and Ro-Shaun Williams still eligible for the U18’s next year United’s side could be very entertaining and full of talent.
So that's both Matt Campbell and Ollie Byrne leaving the club this summer. Heard Matt was supposed to be highly rated and I've always liked Byrne when I watched him and thought he was talented enough to at least get a pro deal. Fascinated by how the club goes about judging the keepers at the club.
 

jb8521

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So that's both Matt Campbell and Ollie Byrne leaving the club this summer. Heard Matt was supposed to be highly rated and I've always liked Byrne when I watched him and thought he was talented enough to at least get a pro deal. Fascinated by how the club goes about judging the keepers at the club.
Yeah Campbell's signed with Blackburn already
 

Lash

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I think we'll be getting a couple of strikers in, have we followed up with any interest from the summer for Lorenzo Gonzalez from Servette? We seem to have a presence in Switzerland for youth scouting. I know we went for Matthew Knox in Jan (if you believe reports), so a striker seems inevitable. We always seem a bit light there.
 

jb8521

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I think we'll be getting a couple of strikers in, have we followed up with any interest from the summer for Lorenzo Gonzalez from Servette? We seem to have a presence in Switzerland for youth scouting. I know we went for Matthew Knox in Jan (if you believe reports), so a striker seems inevitable. We always seem a bit light there.
Scouted Gonzalez and decided not to go for him as far as I know. Burkart is a striker but I wouldn't be surprised if we bring in another 1 as well since the only 1 we have for next year's under 18s is Diederick-Roberts and even he's a converted winger
 

Lash

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Scouted Gonzalez and decided not to go for him as far as I know. Burkart is a striker but I wouldn't be surprised if we bring in another 1 as well since the only 1 we have for next year's under 18s is Diederick-Roberts and even he's a converted winger
Fair enough, yeah, we seem to have a lot of winger-cum-strikers. Cheers for the info, will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months
 

Adisa

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Haven't seen the doom and gloom academy articles in the press lately. No journalist has the balls to write that kind of stuff at the moment.
 

Sid234

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They have nothing to stand on and write something even remotely negative and believable about the academy after the club came public with all their plans.. The best they can muster is probable crap about things taking too long or going slow.

Also with the academy lads stepping up in the 1st team, claiming our academy is shit makes absolutely no sense. They'll have to go back to the 1st team to look for fodder
 

Adisa

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Oh sorry. I though he wrote Ethan Ampadu is Kluiverts son.
 

KM

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One of the rags yesterday was linking us to Patrick Kluiverts son (16 yo Ajax winger) and Ethan Ampadu from Exeter.
A quick google search reveals that he's quite highly rated. England wanted him in their U15 camp but he opted for Wales.
 

jb8521

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A quick google search reveals that he's quite highly rated. England wanted him in their U15 camp but he opted for Wales.
He's still an under 15 at club level and plays u17s for Wales. He was on trial with United in 2014 and has been on trial at Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Chelsea as well. His father is a youth coach at Arsenal. Kluivert's son is having a good season at Ajax and has 14/16 goals playing from the wing. I've heard he's still on a youth contract due to some rules in the Netherlands about how many players clubs can give contracts to but I'm not entirely sure.
 

KM

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He's still an under 15 at club level and plays u17s for Wales. He was on trial with United in 2014 and has been on trial at Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Chelsea as well. His father is a youth coach at Arsenal. Kluivert's son is having a good season at Ajax and has 14/16 goals playing from the wing. I've heard he's still on a youth contract due to some rules in the Netherlands about how many players clubs can give contracts to but I'm not entirely sure.
Cheers mate, surely that would mean Arsenal stand a great chance of signing him?
 

jb8521

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Cheers mate, surely that would mean Arsenal stand a great chance of signing him?
Yeah I would have thought so but from what I've heard there's quite a bit of unrest at Arsenal's academy at the moment with a lot of the players parent's unhappy about some of the new staff and a lot of the younger players unhappy so I suppose that could have a bearing
 

TwoSheds

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Anyone know anything about Nick Fox? Seems unlikely but have to ask.
 

TwoSheds

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So previously he was our "Head of Elite Performance" right? What did that entail?