The Former United Youth/Reserves Thread

khoazany

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Not sure whether I should put the thread here or the main section but here it goes.

Very surprising and pleasant to see Frederic Veseli is going to the Euro (he's with Albania now).
 

Jaybomb

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Always thought Vermijl and Petrucci would have made it here. And Possebon.
 

Sid234

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Petrucci and Possebon never really recovered from the injuries they picked up.. I had higher hopes from Magnus Eikrem
 

FromTheBench

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Petrucci and Possebon never really recovered from the injuries they picked up.. I had higher hopes from Magnus Eikrem
Possebon's injury wasn't that serious at all. Its almost become a myth now. He just faded and vanished mysteriously. Agree with you on Eikrem and Petrucci though. Really liked both but guess Eikrem's physical attributes never caught up with the technical and Petrucci as you say was gutted by injuries long term. I am most sad about Daehli and his issues with the jumpers knee problem though. Terrific talent who I hope can get over it. Was impressing with Freiburg and Norway too.
 

Sid234

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Possebon's injury wasn't that serious at all. Its almost become a myth now. He just faded and vanished mysteriously. Agree with you on Eikrem and Petrucci though. Really liked both but guess Eikrem's physical attributes never caught up with the technical and Petrucci as you say was gutted by injuries long term. I am most sad about Daehli and his issues with the jumpers knee problem though. Terrific talent who I hope can get over it. Was impressing with Freiburg and Norway too.
I think Possebon was mentally hit more than anything else after that.. Never really looked as assured and confident on the ball. Just felt like it became a mental block in his development.
 

Sid234

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Apparently Burnley rejected a 11.5 million bid from Leicester for Michael Keane.
Not bad.. He's a very good player, deserves to play in the PL.. We should've kept him IMO, and loaned him out.

Who'd have thought 5 years ago that it'll be Michael Keane who'd be the more accomplished player rather than his brother
 

Leonard17

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Not bad.. He's a very good player, deserves to play in the PL.. We should've kept him IMO, and loaned him out.

Who'd have thought 5 years ago that it'll be Michael Keane who'd be the more accomplished player rather than his brother
The revisionism is crazy. Not you in particular but in general. This always happens when an ex player does well or is sold on for a lot of money. Who says he would've made it at the club? When he was roasted in pre season against Real Madrid, then against Sunderland, no one was complaining when he was sold. Hopefully we have a sell on clause for him.
 

spenzo

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The revisionism is crazy. Not you in particular but in general. This always happens when an ex player does well or is sold on for a lot of money. Who says he would've made it at the club? When he was roasted in pre season against Real Madrid, then against Sunderland, no one was complaining when he was sold. Hopefully we have a sell on clause for him.
Actually to be fair most of the people that knew who he was prior to that pre season still had faith in him, can specifically remember someone on here defending him saying that there's a lot of defenders that would get skinned by Bale, plus he wasn't bad against Sunderland. There is revisionism on here sometimes but not with Michael, many people rated him highly up until the day he went.
 

khoazany

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The revisionism is crazy. Not you in particular but in general. This always happens when an ex player does well or is sold on for a lot of money. Who says he would've made it at the club? When he was roasted in pre season against Real Madrid, then against Sunderland, no one was complaining when he was sold. Hopefully we have a sell on clause for him.
I did complain when he was sold.Blackett did much better on his first few appearances and on pre-season but everyone who have seen them before that know who's the better player. Keane might not be good enough to get in a top United side even potentially but in hindsight we have kept worse players (Rojo,Blackett and McNair at CB) so it's still a wrong decision IMO (though a tricky one as Keane didn't perform). Having said that Rojo,Blackett will eventually be sold anyway and McNair won't be a CB so it's all well and good.
 
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kundalini

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The revisionism is crazy. Not you in particular but in general. This always happens when an ex player does well or is sold on for a lot of money. Who says he would've made it at the club? When he was roasted in pre season against Real Madrid, then against Sunderland, no one was complaining when he was sold. Hopefully we have a sell on clause for him.
There was lots of bewilderment on here when he was sold, if only due to the timing and the low fee for a young player who had performed well for Burnley in the PL. The logical move would have been to let him play the rest of the season at Burnley then decide. Obviously I don't know the details of the transfer so perhaps United included a sell on clause.

The thing I can't remember is how long he had left on his contract when we sold him.

Central defenders are incredibly difficult to assess at a young age as they peak so late. When Michael Keane was sold, he looked PL standard with the possibility of becoming top 4 standard in his mid to late 20s.
 
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Leonard17

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Actually to be fair most of the people that knew who he was prior to that pre season still had faith in him, can specifically remember someone on here defending him saying that there's a lot of defenders that would get skinned by Bale, plus he wasn't bad against Sunderland. There is revisionism on here sometimes but not with Michael, many people rated him highly up until the day he went.
He was terrible against Sunderland. At his age, he made the right move in getting first team football, as proved by his development since. I knew him prior to that pre season, he did well in his loan spells in the championship maybe that's his level? We'll see if he comes back.

I did complain when he was sold.Blackett did much better on his first few appearances and on pre-season but everyone who have seen them before that know who's the better player. Keane might not be good enough to get in a top United side even potentially but in hindsight we have kept worse players (Rojo,Blackett and McNair at CB) so it's still a wrong decision IMO (though a tricky one as Keane didn't perform). Having said that Rojo,Blackett will eventually be sold anyway and McNair won't be a CB so it's all well and good.
Blackett only got into the team because he was left footed, there's no doubt in my mind. Keane is the better defender, but Blackett was left footed and was physically way superior to him Keane. He was also versatile, even though Keane used to play rb for the u18s, he made his name at CB on loan. Also, we don't know what happened during training sessions. From the outside, it seemed to me that Thorpe should've been ahead of both in that reckoning. But who knows what happened.

There was lots of bewilderment on here when he was sold, if only due to the timing and the low fee for a young player who had performed well for Burnley in the PL. The logical move would have been to let him play the rest of the season at Burnley then decide. Obviously I don't know the details of the transfer so perhaps United included a sell on clause.

Central defenders are incredibly difficult to assess at a young age as they peak so late. When Michael Keane was sold, he looked PL standard with the possibility of becoming top 4 standard.
They got relegated and he was in with them for quite a while, so how he could've being showing the potential for top 4 at that stage is questionable. What top 4 team would he get into, right now? I'm not saying he doesn't have that, but if he did, I doubt a decision such as that would've been taken so quickly. He was playing 1st team footy and was enjoying it, fair play. At the time and even now, it was the right decision to make, absolutely. If he gets the move then wicked for him, but we have better defensive prospects now as a collection, than we've had for a long time.
 
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Sid234

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I think people here were pretty surprised we let him go at the time.. I think he'll come good, be a player atleast at Jonny Evans' level.

He seemed a pretty safe bet as a defender to be atleast low to mid-level PL quality.
 

TwoSheds

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Keane's probably a good choice for Leicester tbf. Knows a lot of the lads from United's youth system already, good education, similar battling, aerially strong style of play to their current defenders, definitely a hard worker and team player. Not sure he's better than Huth or Morgan but neither of them is exactly a spring chicken and he might have got games at RB too...
 
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khoazany

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Former academy youngster Jack Harrison who left the club at 15 to study in America is having a Rashford-esque breakthrough at NYCFC (he was on the same age group at the likes of CBJ,Riley,Mitchell,...).Lampard, Pirlo and Villa are playing for them.
 

khoazany

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Ashley Fletcher scored 2 in 2 in pre-season for West Ham.Might actually get chances when the season starts.
 

kundalini

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Thorpe sub for Rotherham in first 3 matches (came on once). Pearson unused sub last match for Preston, not involved before that. Grimshaw has been starting games. Not noticed Reece James' name for Wigan. Vermijl an unused sub for Sheff Wed. Tunnicliffe sub for Fulham (already well established as a Championship level player).

Joe Rothwell has come on as a sub for Oxford in Div 1.

Saidy Janko has been getting some starts and sub appearances for Celtic so I guess that's better than most of his age group or similar.

Early days.
 
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drdoityourself

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Febian Brandy who was probably the first youth team prospect I heard about..is now playing in the second tier in Thailand. I thought he was going to be a world beater when I first saw him.
Hopefully the Thai league is a hidden gem and he's doing great.
 

khoazany

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Thorpe sub for Rotherham in first 3 matches (came on once). Pearson unused sub last match for Preston, not involved before that. Grimshaw has been starting games. Not noticed Reece James' name for Wigan. Vermijl an unused sub for Sheff Wed. Tunnicliffe sub for Fulham (already well established as a Championship level player).

Joe Rothwell has come on as a sub for Oxford in Div 1.

Saidy Janko has been getting some starts and sub appearances for Celtic so I guess that's better than most of his age group or similar.

Early days.
Reece James was injured I believe.Pearson might as well, hasn't checked on him.

Norwood starts for Brighton as well, I reckon they will finally move up this year.He's a decent player so due a jump to the PL at some point.

Josh Brownhill is getting games for Bristol City in the Championship (he's a late 95' born, left the club at 16).
 

dogwithabone

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Joe Rothwell received the MoTM for Oxford against Brighton yesterday.

I was at that game and he played very well. Played out on the right for first twenty minutes and wasn't really in the game - to be fair neither were Oxford as a team - but Appleton then moved him to the left and he was the stand out performer. Early on he tried to get a couple of speculative long range shots in, perhaps trying too hard to impress but once he settled and kept it simple he was great.

Deceptively quick and every ball he played was a firm forward pass into feet and he was always looking to play the clever ball in down the channel, sometimes a bit too clever for his L1 teammates ! I would guess he's probably played his way into the team for the weekend and it will be interesting to see how he develops.
 

Šjor Bepo

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@dogwithabone how did Dan Crowley play? If Oxford played them two together and if others are at least decent they would walk the league.....both are way too good for that level.
 

dogwithabone

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@dogwithabone how did Dan Crowley play? If Oxford played them two together and if others are at least decent they would walk the league.....both are way too good for that level.

Ironically neither can get in the team so far this season. Crowley hasn't started and the Brighton game was Rothwells first start. Crowley came on as a late sub against Brighton and scored a superb goal right on full time, curling one in from the edge of the box.

Crowley has looked good on the ball when I've seen him but as with a lot of managers at that level they prefer the more solid and reliable week in week out performers. I think both are getting near to a start but Oxford are strong in that area and only today they have brought in Ryan Ledson from Everton on a three year deal and he's very highly rated too.

Appleton does like to bring in players that he feels are comfortable at the next level up and I'd expect the likes of Rothwell and Crowley (only on loan though) to flourish further up the football pyramid.
 

Šjor Bepo

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Ironically neither can get in the team so far this season. Crowley hasn't started and the Brighton game was Rothwells first start. Crowley came on as a late sub against Brighton and scored a superb goal right on full time, curling one in from the edge of the box.

Crowley has looked good on the ball when I've seen him but as with a lot of managers at that level they prefer the more solid and reliable week in week out performers. I think both are getting near to a start but Oxford are strong in that area and only today they have brought in Ryan Ledson from Everton on a three year deal and he's very highly rated too.

Appleton does like to bring in players that he feels are comfortable at the next level up and I'd expect the likes of Rothwell and Crowley (only on loan though) to flourish further up the football pyramid.
I know, i check the lineups every game....
Thats the problem in england, there are plenty of very good young players out there but the ones that are stuck in lower leagues often dont get a chance because they are too good for their teammates and they cant shine and express themselves in rigid systems where teammates arent on the same wavelength. Often ask myself why young players dont go to spain/belgium/holland and play in a culture that will value their qualities. Luke Giverin for example was in Antwerpen few years ago(think it was second division) and he was player of the year there and Giverin is pretty average. Someone like Rothwell could easily be one of the better players in first division.....
 

In Rainbows

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Possebon's injury wasn't that serious at all. Its almost become a myth now. He just faded and vanished mysteriously. Agree with you on Eikrem and Petrucci though. Really liked both but guess Eikrem's physical attributes never caught up with the technical and Petrucci as you say was gutted by injuries long term. I am most sad about Daehli and his issues with the jumpers knee problem though. Terrific talent who I hope can get over it. Was impressing with Freiburg and Norway too.
I watched all of Daehli's matches for Cardiff and I was really impressed by him. He didn't put up the stats that wow you, but watching him keep possession in tight spaces and generally play smart was fun to watch.