Willy Kambwala

Berbaclass

Fallen Muppet. Lest we never forget
Joined
Jan 23, 2010
Messages
46,919
Location
Cooper Station
RMC Sport report that Premier League side Manchester United have submitted an opening proposal to Ligue 2 side FC Sochaux for 15-year-old central defender Willy Kambwala.

The bid is understood to have been worth less than €1m and FCSM intend to reject it.

The Ligue 2 club has no intention of opening transfer talks for the French U16s international unless the Red Devils’ offer is doubled.

The player is interested by the possibility of joining Manchester United, but also doesn’t want to cross the club that formed him in their youth academy.

Kambwala still has another two years remaining on his current youth contract with FCSM.
Click to expand...
 
So they want another €1m which shouldn't be a problem one would think.
 
Adnan said:
So they want another €1m which shouldn't be a problem one would think.
Click to expand...

It's a lot of money for a 15 year old though, I'm not quite sure how often a 15 year old is bought for 2 million.

(meaning I genuinely have no idea what academies pay for 15 year olds) at that age though you have a lot of development ahead of you.
 
I hope this doesn’t mean we won’t try to hijack Bayern’s bid to get El-Chadaille
 
TheNewEra said:
It's a lot of money for a 15 year old though, I'm not quite sure how often a 15 year old is bought for 2 million.

(meaning I genuinely have no idea what academies pay for 15 year olds) at that age though you have a lot of development ahead of you.
Click to expand...
It seems like he's a very big prospect for his age group in France and I'm all in favour of signing players of that ilk early. And even if he doesn't live up to his potential we still have a good chance to recoup the €2m when he's older.

We've missed out on some big talents at CB in recent years so it would be nice to actually back the scouts and get one over the line.
 
Adnan said:
It seems like he's a very big prospect for his age group in France and I'm all in favour of signing players of that ilk early. And even if he doesn't live up to his potential we still have a good chance to recoup the €2m when he's older.

We've missed out on some big talents at CB in recent years so it would be nice to actually back the scouts and get one over the line.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It reminds me of first hearing about guys like Varane and Upamencano.
 
Hope we get this over the line. Rather not penny pinch here, if he is a big talent then we should not hesitate. It is easy to recoup the money usually.
 
I remember reading similar stories a few years back on Upamecano, where we didn't pay a small fee for him (relatively large fee for his age at the time) and ended up missing out on him. There does seem to be a shift in that approach and we have been aggressively recruiting youth players these past 2 seasons, so hopefully we don't miss out on top prospects due to transfer fees anymore. Saying that, I have absolutely no idea about how good Kambwala is for his age.
 
TheNewEra said:
It's a lot of money for a 15 year old though, I'm not quite sure how often a 15 year old is bought for 2 million.

(meaning I genuinely have no idea what academies pay for 15 year olds) at that age though you have a lot of development ahead of you.
Click to expand...
We paid 1 million for John Cofie years ago, if I am not mistaken.
 
United Pro said:
I remember reading similar stories a few years back on Upamecano, where we didn't pay a small fee for him (relatively large fee for his age at the time) and ended up missing out on him. There does seem to be a shift in that approach and we have been aggressively recruiting youth players these past 2 seasons, so hopefully we don't miss out on top prospects due to transfer fees anymore. Saying that, I have absolutely no idea about how good Kambwala is for his age.
Click to expand...

Yeah if we had got Upamecano back then no way would he have this major issue at CB
 
croadyman said:
Yeah if we had got Upamecano back then no way would he have this major issue at CB
Click to expand...
Hard to say really. I remember watching clips of him and thinking he looked more talented than Tuanzebe (who was one of the best defender we've produced in years), but who's to say he'd develop the same way had he moved here?
 
Adnan said:
It seems like he's a very big prospect for his age group in France and I'm all in favour of signing players of that ilk early. And even if he doesn't live up to his potential we still have a good chance to recoup the €2m when he's older.

We've missed out on some big talents at CB in recent years so it would be nice to actually back the scouts and get one over the line.
Click to expand...
Everybody needs to stop looking at transfer fees as the actual value of a player. Every player on our books is an asset and as such has running costs like wages and all other "cost to company" expenses (think like facilities, education, equipment, insurance, social security, etc.). For example, if we sign and keep him for 5 years before selling, and the average weekly "cost to company" is 10k, that is another 2.6m for 5 years. And that doesn't include the time wasted by coaches and non-coaching staff, nor it does the alternative costs (what if we signed someone else with that money, what if we played another academy player in his position, etc..).

So, when people say we can easily recoup the transfer amount later, that's really not true. It is possible but by no means with "a good chance".
 
United Pro said:
Hard to say really. I remember watching clips of him and thinking he looked more talented than Tuanzebe (who was one of the best defender we've produced in years), but who's to say he'd develop the same way had he moved here?
Click to expand...

Felt so gutted for Axel by that injury he picked up in the warm up against Liverpool,if that hadn't happened genuinely believe he would still be in the team right now.
 
So we can use our Big Willy chants after all?

"We're being politically correct, big Willy is offside when erect"
 
Last edited:
You might say, we should get him out of France and....
Free_willy.jpg
 
I'm surprised nobody has made any jokes about his name yet
 
georgipep said:
Everybody needs to stop looking at transfer fees as the actual value of a player. Every player on our books is an asset and as such has running costs like wages and all other "cost to company" expenses (think like facilities, education, equipment, insurance, social security, etc.). For example, if we sign and keep him for 5 years before selling, and the average weekly "cost to company" is 10k, that is another 2.6m for 5 years. And that doesn't include the time wasted by coaches and non-coaching staff, nor it does the alternative costs (what if we signed someone else with that money, what if we played another academy player in his position, etc..).

So, when people say we can easily recoup the transfer amount later, that's really not true. It is possible but by no means with "a good chance".
Click to expand...
One of the biggest CB prospects from a country that is the best at developing talent in the world IMO is a risk worth taking and does yield a good chance of recouping a paltry sum like €5m even.

We've adopted a very aggressive approach in recent years at youth level when it comes to recruiting. And it's a approach that will yield results in the longterm IMO. I'd rather take a risk for €10m with a youth player who is among the best in his age group rather than spend £18m on a Daniel James or carry on wasting money on contract renewals for players who are clearly never gonna take us to the next level.
 
Adnan said:
One of the biggest CB prospects from a country that is the best at developing talent in the world IMO is a risk worth taking and does yield a good chance of recouping a paltry sum like €5m even.

We've adopted a very aggressive approach in recent years at youth level when it comes to recruiting. And it's a approach that will yield results in the longterm IMO. I'd rather take a risk for €10m with a youth player who is among the best in his age group rather than spend £18m on a Daniel James or carry on wasting money on contract renewals for players who are clearly never gonna take us to the next level.
Click to expand...
I am not questioning the talent or their potential. I was simply referring to the valuation. The transfer fee is only part of the equation.

And why the diss on James? He is a young player himself with tons of potential and room to improve. When he arrived people were saying he is a left winger who won't get a game. Then he hit the ground running, adapted to the right wing and is now in a stage of his first season where he needs to find other strengths to suit our style. I'm very confident he will shine next season for us and we, as fans, should believe and stand behind him.

What's the point of buying talents if we turn on them the moment they go through a rough patch or are displaced by another player?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.