McNair isn't taller than him although the former's two years younger so might still can grow.
Tom Thorpe
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Just doucble checked, Wiki says Thorpe is 6ft 2", didn't expect that.. Always thought he was under 6ft..
Is Thorpe's passing good enough to be a holding midfielder?
Good enough for the U21s but not sure about senior level.
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Is he still at the club ?
Definitely shagged LVG's daughter
He is injured I believe, has been for the last couple months.
He should of got a game this season in the first team. He's the best defender in the youth team.
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I hope to god we get top four this year, because then next year we can expect to see a lot more of Pereira, Thorpe, et al (even if it's only in League Cup games).
Didn't realise that he was 22 already. He is only 11 months younger than Phil Jones. He really needs to start moving forwards in his career.
Wont be here
Haven't watched our youth side months, so am well out of the loop, is Thorpe really leaving? The lad was one of the most highly rated players in the academy from what I can recall.
Except he has seen McNair and Blackett given chances ahead of him, LVG must not rate him above them and hes almost 22. Time for him to move on.
Too many players at United spend far too much time here playing once every fortnight for the reserves, Thorpe being one of them.
The club aren't to blame, however, moreso the poor set up in England for those aged between 18 and 21. There isn't anywhere near enough games and the competition is poor.
If you're a Rooney or a Barkley, or a Jones or Sterling, everything is fine. They're so far ahead of the rest to begin with. But there's so many young players at Premier League clubs that lose out on the most important years of their development because they're not good enough for the first team, so they loiter around in the U21s instead, to their detriment.
They'd be better served playing at a lower level from a younger age, earning game time with professionals and working their way back up through the game if and when they're good enough.
Has Thorpe even played 20 professional games of football yet? Chances are when he's thrown into game after game in the Championship, or perhaps lower, he'll struggle. The guy clearly has a lot to offer hence he's still here, but he needs to start being a professional footballer and not a schoolboy.
Keeping him at the club for too long and only sent him out on loan once (in which he got a 3-month injury) is one of the thing I never understand about this club.
He has played 6.
Too old and unpicked to see LVG having a change of heart, same as with Vermijl. Michael Keane had proven himself more and wasnt kept
Interesting. Can't really complain I suppose, considering the promotion of McNair and Blackett. It's not like academy players aren't being given a chance, and obviously our coaches (and LVG) see something more promising in McNair and Blackett than in Thorpe and Vermijl.
I wonder how many academy players are typically promoted to the first team? We all rave about a new youngster at some point or another but the harsh reality is that very few will ever make it in the first team, and it's very often the ones you'd least expect (ie, not always the most talented, but perhaps the most committed/lucky).
At 22 he doesn't have much time left. It's one of the very few cases where we keep a player until he's 21-22 before moving him on, usually he'd be on the move well before now, having been given no chance at United. It's not like his playing time is going to appear all of a sudden from nowhere, he didn't even play during our worst injury crisis.
I wouldn't say few cases, that whole youth cup side were kept around without getting chances. Both Keanes, Petrucci, Vermijl, Larnell Cole, Tunnicliffe and even Lingard is 22 and hardly played. Keeping players until 21-22 and not doing much with them is common enough from us recently.
Anyone know what the story is with his current contract duration wise?
Another good performance from him, only to sadden his fans for his inevitable departure.
No chance of him renewing in the summer much like Will Keane last season no ?
My guess would be no. Think he'd have got more of look in if van Gaal saw him as first team material. I think Will Keane will go this summer too.
Weirdly if LVG doesn't rate him at all and have no intention to renew the contract IMO he must already have left by now for trialling with other clubs etc.The whole situation is a real myth from start to end.
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There's no real reason for him to trial with other teams like there is with a lot of the younger lads though. Everybody knows how good he is and there would be a queue of teams willing to sign him without a trial
I think his lack of 1st team football and being right footed went against him at the start of the season.. Blackett got a shot because of that and Van Gaal clearly saw something in McNair that prompted him to move to the senior team ahead of Thorpe
Yep, this. A shame, because Thorpe is better than either. But not the end of the world, he was never a first-team cert sort of talent either.
I dunno about that. Thorpe's good but I don't think he quite has what it takes to play for us. McNair has been very impressive at a young age for us though, seems to have a great temperament for first team football.
He's five times more skilled than Blackett.
No he's not. He might be cleverer than Blackett but in terms of technical and physical attributes he's not any better.
Thorpe is far better than Blackett.
He's much better than Blackett and way more mature.. Just unlucky that he was right footed and maybe not as good on the ball as McNair? I still dont know how LvG picked McNair ahead of Tom.
It was a great call looking how great he's been but still very puzzling to me.. Shows how good he is I guess at picking out talented youngsters
It was a great call looking how great he's been but still very puzzling to me.. Shows how good he is I guess at picking out talented youngsters
Blackett was and is more puzzling for me than Mcnair. He is not even solid still in the U21 games.
Yeah it is strange. McNair has obvious potential and is good on the ball. So makes sense.
But Blackett just has never been very good, it's a little peculiar.
They're both right footed and very good on the ball.
Give Tom a chance.....