Depay honestly. As he was a bomb in dutch league and had the arrogance. Look dead set to be the next big thing.
Who made you more stoic about hot prospects?
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran discuss United's thrilling but ultimately disappointing 3-3 draw with Galatsaray. They talk Onana, our fading hopes of getting out of the group, and whether we want Europa League football or not.
They also discuss a comfortable (?) win at Everton and probably don't spend long enough talking about THAT goal and Kobbie Mainoo.
Finishing with a look ahead to a punishing December schedule which will make or break the season.
This club's track record over the past decade or so.
Götze is the big one, I think his biggest problem is that he's just so short and painfully slow (these days). If he was quicker he'd probably be kind of similar to Sancho. If he was a bit bigger he may have been able to pivot into a CM/DM or even striker role. But since he's neither it just seems tragically impossible to fit him into a modern team, despite all the talent that's still visible.
There's also Julian Draxler for emphasis. He was basically Schalke's answer to Götze in his teens, had huge moments for them almost from the start. Although in hindsight his G/A numbers actually weren't that impressive.
And funnily enough this was pretty close to the moment it seems to have started going downhill for him:
At the time it seemed like those two would drive Germany to greatness and it was impossible to imagine that one would end up in Eredivisie and then Frankfurt and the other would be a total flop at Benfica before fecking off into the desert in their prime years.
There's also Julian Draxler for emphasis. He was basically Schalke's answer to Götze in his teens, had huge moments for them almost from the start. Although in hindsight his G/A numbers actually weren't that impressive.
And funnily enough this was pretty close to the moment it seems to have started going downhill for him:
At the time it seemed like those two would drive Germany to greatness and it was impossible to imagine that one would end up in Eredivisie and then Frankfurt and the other would be a total flop at Benfica before fecking off into the desert in their prime years.
Good shout. I was expecting big things from him but he turned out big in body fat, nothing more.
More than anything else: time. I feel like every United fan goes through the youth muppet stage at some point, likely when they first notice MUTV. For me it was the glory days of Ebanks-Blake and Rossi. With Pique in there too. Over the years, United always seemed to have at least: 1 full back who could hop into the first team at a push, 1 midfielder who was a loan away move from solving our perpetual crisis in centre mid and 1 striker who we'd be desperate to get minutes because he was totally the next big thing.
Countless players seemed to pop up each year in the youth setup, and over time, extraordinarily few amounted to anything at United. Really, only Rashford has been a success, and he wasn't even that rated at youth level. The four highest rated in my memory were Rossi - who was bloody brilliant but lacked cartilage in his knees, Pogba who we know plenty about, Morisson who to be honest never did anything consistently in actual matches to warrant his hype and then Greenwood.
I'd say all 4 had the talent to be actually close to world class, but it shows you how other circumstances are necessary.
What's most upsetting is that we've really dried up now in terms of the 'reliable sub' youth player that would make up the 25. The 5th choice CB, or as I mentioned 3rd choice FB. I really put that down to how poorly the club is coached, and the lack of consistency from the first team downwards. LVG at least had that sorted.
Countless players seemed to pop up each year in the youth setup, and over time, extraordinarily few amounted to anything at United. Really, only Rashford has been a success, and he wasn't even that rated at youth level. The four highest rated in my memory were Rossi - who was bloody brilliant but lacked cartilage in his knees, Pogba who we know plenty about, Morisson who to be honest never did anything consistently in actual matches to warrant his hype and then Greenwood.
I'd say all 4 had the talent to be actually close to world class, but it shows you how other circumstances are necessary.
What's most upsetting is that we've really dried up now in terms of the 'reliable sub' youth player that would make up the 25. The 5th choice CB, or as I mentioned 3rd choice FB. I really put that down to how poorly the club is coached, and the lack of consistency from the first team downwards. LVG at least had that sorted.
It's our now lower standards. The management of the football club (I can't blame the fans exactly but plenty stood by?) have given long, expensive contracts to some extremely average footballers and instead of cutting their losses on them, have treated them as an asset on a balance sheet. The players I'm thinking of are the likes of Lingard, Phil Jones, etc. but even today we've given a long term contract to some players whose ability is seriously questionable. That's led to a lack of a squad place or possibility of gambling on some other youth player while these guys have been filling up the subs bench - the thinking presumably being that they are ok 50-100k per week so we have to use them. I just don't see a world in which some of the players we've had in our squad would last longer than a year at some of the better run clubs around like Bayern or whoever.
John Curtis
An England and Man United youth captain in the mid 90's I remember him being hyped up by everyone to be better than Gary Neville! Also every interview Fergie did regarding the next bunch of kids to make the grade he always mentioned John Curtis (alongside Wes Brown and Alex Notman!). With the success of the Class of '92 that decade it was easy for us fans to get carried away and expect The Cliff to consistently churn out a conveyor belt of future first team stars. No.
Pogba and Morrison I followed closely and watched live a few times when they were coming through. They were fun to watch. On pure talent alone for me were dead certs to be top players for the first team but alongside Greenwood proof talent alone isnt enough to be the best of the best in professional football. It felt like Morrison left through the back door. Pogba who we bought back from Juventus for an insane amount (fee and wages) flopped hard.
He just didnt have the mentality or mindset to be a top player.
An England and Man United youth captain in the mid 90's I remember him being hyped up by everyone to be better than Gary Neville! Also every interview Fergie did regarding the next bunch of kids to make the grade he always mentioned John Curtis (alongside Wes Brown and Alex Notman!). With the success of the Class of '92 that decade it was easy for us fans to get carried away and expect The Cliff to consistently churn out a conveyor belt of future first team stars. No.
Pogba and Morrison I followed closely and watched live a few times when they were coming through. They were fun to watch. On pure talent alone for me were dead certs to be top players for the first team but alongside Greenwood proof talent alone isnt enough to be the best of the best in professional football. It felt like Morrison left through the back door. Pogba who we bought back from Juventus for an insane amount (fee and wages) flopped hard.
Januzaj was very talented but according to one of his former coaches at United once he broke into the first team squad, once 'he made it' he stopped working hard.
He just didnt have the mentality or mindset to be a top player.
They were fun to watch. The Yorke and Cole of the reserves.
That 2004-2005 season when they ran riot and helped the team win a treble..
Ronaldo, not obscurity clearly but feck me, he was sensational.
Never-will-be? Adriano. Maybe because I heard he was "the new Ronaldo" so it was with that standard in mind that I went to watch him at the Maracaná a couple of times when he broke through for Flamengo.
I thought he was destined to be a pretty average fat feck and would do well to become as good as Mark Viduka. I had no idea why Inter signed him.
Then he moved to Parma on loan and you could argue he is a great example of a talent fading into obscurity.
For us? I loved Rossi to bits, just unlucky we were stacked. Extremely disappointed with Greenwood. Never-will-be? Darren Fletcher, used to be compared to Beckham and all I saw was a poor man's Scott McTominay. Living proof of how much it's all about heart, spirit and having your head screwed on tight. Also of why you should always be happy to keep such youth products as rotation/backup because understanding what it means to play for United goes a hell of a long way.
Sylvan Ebanks Blake
But only 'cos he was shit out on one of the earlier 2000's Championship Manager (I wanna say 03?) and I really thought it would be true to life.
But only 'cos he was shit out on one of the earlier 2000's Championship Manager (I wanna say 03?) and I really thought it would be true to life.
Guisseppi Rossi after the goals he was banging in for the reserves. Expected him to be brought through and be a superstar.
Villarreal couldn't believe their luck. We sold Forlán to them for 3m and he scored 82 goals in 128 games. They then sold him to Atlético and got Rossi off us for <10m and he scored 82 goals in 192 games.
Those were our "rejects" back then, and rightly so. Feck me.
Possibly not a hot prospect as others since he hasn't proved much in the highest stage of football, but I would consider him in this thread. His name is Hachim Mastour
Back in 2014, when I saw this guy at first sight, I thought that this kid was unbelievable. His ball-controlling skills and flair were ahead of anyone else in the same generation. He had a lot of flair in his game( and still has it). At that time, the things I hoped he developed were football brain and IQ. However, football wasn't a take-down show, 1 on 1, or only flashy things like that. It has a lot of things more than that like team-playing, making spaces for himself/others, decision-making, and combination with other players. He lacked things like this in his game and I can say it's an important part of football. He hasn't developed things that I've mentioned in recent years especially in team playing. Outside of football, his mentality and discipline are too low to be considered a top player( especially his mentality). The media hype and expectations from the fans also ruined him in indirect ways, which is pretty understandable. At that time, he already had commercials with Red Bull and Nike.
He was one of the examples that having flashy skills alone isn't enough to be a great footballer. It requires something a lot more than that. On a football pitch, it's very different from a futsal stadium or freestyle show. Since he's only 24, I hope he can return to play in Europe. He was once compared with Odegard when both were 15-16 years old. After almost 10 years, we know what everything has happened.
A while ago Real Madrid bought Sergio Canales after he impressed at a very young age, there was lots of hype around him.
Mourinho barely played him, he was shipped off one season later and then he did his ACL twice. Then did his other one a few years later.
Still had a decent career but nothing mindblowing.
Mourinho barely played him, he was shipped off one season later and then he did his ACL twice. Then did his other one a few years later.
Still had a decent career but nothing mindblowing.
It’s weird how Dortmund or the likes of Real have such good luck with the young players they sign. They also move on ther duds. There is something majorly wrong with our scouting and setup in general when young people aren’t rising to the challenge or realising their potential here, repeatedly. Also all the off the pitch stuff. We clearly aren’t a stable club and lack any kind of leadership from above. There’s been so much waste because of that. It feels like Fergie would get levels more out of these young players and kept them relatively grounded and as out of the gossip news as possible for the most part.
Greenwood is the worst one for me. I doubt he’ll ever hit the heights now but he looked like he was going to be one of the best young players we’d ever produced.
The Sancho situation along with all this Antony, Ronaldo, Pogba attitude, Lingard. I just like our footballers less and less all the time.
Greenwood is the worst one for me. I doubt he’ll ever hit the heights now but he looked like he was going to be one of the best young players we’d ever produced.
The Sancho situation along with all this Antony, Ronaldo, Pogba attitude, Lingard. I just like our footballers less and less all the time.
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Either Epictetus or it must have been Chrysippus.
After Diogenes defacing the currency and all that, I’ve become more of a cynic.
After Diogenes defacing the currency and all that, I’ve become more of a cynic.
Most of the emotional cnuts on here are more like his wretched son, Commodus.
They aren't even that lucky. Sold Isak and he developed into a great striker, Adeyemi isn't doing well, Moukoko barely played a role so far, Duranville (their biggest talent, IMO) has suffered multiple injuries at 17 already and they recently had to suspend their academy star (Brunner) for unknown reason. For every Ousmane Dembelé, there's an Emre Mor. There are simply too many unpredictables.
I guess but they got far more out of Haaland Sancho and Bellingham than we ever could. You make a fair point though. There are plenty of duds.
Real do seem to just get the winners though these days? When someone as good as Odegaard isn’t making it you’ve got a talent surplus. Their two big sales were probably our best players last season who were both youngsters coming through at Real. Vinicius has finally settled. Bellingham looks immense, Camavinga is a baller. Once again they have found the most ambitious players who have the skills to back it up. We seem to fail over and over when it comes to supporting these players and maximising them but maybe it’s because we stick on players for too long even when it’s clear they don’t have it. It’s clear that some players have been let down by our lack of direction at the club but the players have flopped hard too.
Yeah I understand what you mean somewhat.
The contrast is Madrid can slowly integrate these players if need be, similar to how we were back in the day. They have such a wealth of talent and succession planning that players can spend time on the fringes whilst they develop without the massive pressure on them.
Bellingham has obviously hit the ground running and for £100m, he was always going to go straight into the team but if he hadn't hit the ground running, he would have shared more minutes with the likes of Modric/Kroos/Valvedre etc. Hojlund has come in to a dysfunctional team and needs to play every minute as the only other striker we have is Martial who can't run, can't stay fit and is a shadow of his former self.
Vini Jr - similar to Ronaldo in his early years with us, wasn't given the massive pressure of performing instantly. Both clubs could see the talent and honed that in the right way. Hojlund now should be spending his minutes competing against Kane, sometimes upfront with him, sometimes Kane in the 10, sometimes Hojlund on the LW/RW etc.