19 year old Ecuadorian midfielder Oscar Zambrano looks a real talent from the games I've watched, which include games at u-20 national level. He's playing for LDU Quito in Ecuador but he's showing immense potential as a up and coming pivot with a good passing range and superb ability to evade pressure. Definitely one to watch out for in the coming years.
Your Hidden Gems or under the radar - Wanted Signings
- Thread starter Dan600
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Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
Isn't he supposed to be well on Barca's radar? Looks very good mind.
The Spanish clubs will likely be aware of him and Barcelona in particular have historically kept close eyes on young up and coming pivot players due to the play style Cruyff instilled at the club. From the little I've seen, both Zambrano and Arthur Vermeeran (Antwerp) look very talented players for any club that aims to build play from the back.
Oh my, he looks quality on the ball. If he shows any intelligence off the ball, he looks like he could be great. Ecuador really seems to be having a golden generation moment right now.
I think I saw a report that they were closely following him, but yeah they both seem to be players that can link the play from deep and where they can build attacks.
I'm interested to see if Collyer gets a run out tomorrow, as I thought that's what he was meant to be good at.
Luka Vuskovic (2007 born, 1.93 big CB) of Hajduk Split should be a player we should sign and loan back to his current club. PSG was heavily linked in May but seems like that transfer didn't happen His profile reminds me a bit of Vidic.
We should look at Karim Konate from Salzburg:
Age: 19 years
Position: striker
Hight: 178 cm
Stats23/24
Matches: 4/4
Minutes: 333
Goals: 5
Assists: 2
goal or assist every 67 minutes
A fast and physical strong player, good finisher, not the tallest but blessed with good instincts, a good timing and vertical. Still very young and has enough room to improve.
He will be the next great striker from Salzburg and we should take the risk and sign him in January to bring him to Manchester in July.
some goals and assists from 22/23 (take a look at the 2 minute mark)
Highlights friendly against Inter (2 goals, missed penalty)
Scouting report from 2022
Insta
Age: 19 years
Position: striker
Hight: 178 cm
Stats23/24
Matches: 4/4
Minutes: 333
Goals: 5
Assists: 2
goal or assist every 67 minutes
A fast and physical strong player, good finisher, not the tallest but blessed with good instincts, a good timing and vertical. Still very young and has enough room to improve.
He will be the next great striker from Salzburg and we should take the risk and sign him in January to bring him to Manchester in July.
some goals and assists from 22/23 (take a look at the 2 minute mark)
Highlights friendly against Inter (2 goals, missed penalty)
Scouting report from 2022
Insta
It is always a gamble with very young players. At age around 16-19 there are huge differencies how the body develops let alone the mentality and lifestyle. Someone can be bossing other kids of his age but later his development stops and that was his peak. just came sooner. So all those kids bullyig other kids can be very misleading. Clubs with lower wxpectations can go gamble with these talents. 1 out of 10 can come good and they can cash in. It is different for clubs like Uneted. We should invest into our academy and facilities.
Kone for me a progressive midfielder who can transition the ball from midfield to attack. Don't know if it's hidden gem material as he's reportedly been sought after but he's showing much promise.
Hicham Boudaoui from Nice. Can play anywhere in midfield, has all the intangibles - teammates rave about his fitness, coach speaks about how he can adapt at ease to different positions/tactics, is very skillfull and can play different tempos. Might be a nice complement to Casemiro in midfield now that Casemiro's needs some legs in midfield alongside him.
I was thinking about Kone after Wolves and how I think he could be perfect.
But after googling it appears he picked up an injury with France u21s in June which he still out for. Would love us to now pick up our interest as he recovers from his injury before the end of the window.
I just find it really odd we aren’t buying up some of the cheap young prospects available. Not only to cast a wide net for recruitment but also because even if they turn out not to be good enough you will often end up making a profit in FFP terms.
Our scouts will be recommending players left right and centre there just doesn’t seem to be the appetite and/or maybe the funds to consistently invest.
The current business model of trying to solve every problem by spending 50m on someone isn’t sustainable given how bad we are at spending but it’s just rinse and repeat.
Our scouts will be recommending players left right and centre there just doesn’t seem to be the appetite and/or maybe the funds to consistently invest.
The current business model of trying to solve every problem by spending 50m on someone isn’t sustainable given how bad we are at spending but it’s just rinse and repeat.
If you want evidence that the owners aren't these 4d chess players whose moves in the negotiations are inscrutable not because of any incompetency but because they know so much more than the average caf poster, this is one fine example. There are numerous examples of clubs run on smaller budgets or even overtly as investment vehicles where one of the first things they do is to look at implementing a structure that does precisely this. The Glazers haven't done so because they have less understanding of their enterprise or brand than the average small business owner- the 'get my better qualified CEO to sign expensive commercial deals' isn't the sign of genius, particularly as they had no hand in building the brand (SAF did along with existing CEO pre Woodward to an extent) and it was still mishandled to the point of devaluing the sporting brand, unnecessarily. They had easy decisions which wouldn't have cost them more money, and which people on here, even those without MBA s or experience in top-flight football 'business' could have told them it was in their interest to make. .
Even with the money extraction, the parasites would be loathed about 50% less, and if anything be able to sell the club more easily, if if they just appointed top-level football recruitment person to identify DOF who could in turn implement scouting structure and up and coming head coach, based precisely on a scaled up version of what Brighton do, or when it comes to recruitment profiles, Dortmund to an extent. Chelsea's approach seems pretty scattergun, but if we discount the sheer numbers they're buying, the basic strategy itself (in terms of profiles, in terms of price-ranges for the cheaper players, and even, to some extent, the emphasis on where to most heavily invest in - i.e. the engine room, to have a base for controlling games) all make more sense than the way we've bought. They're more flawed and less cost-effective on the face of it than Brighton, but even their prospects look better unless we (a) get sold soon and (b) the new regime invests precisely in putting together a team with a track record in clever buys around a specific profile...
Who on the Caf has the best reputation for calling out players early? I'm pretty useless at this (I thought Dwight Yorke was gonna be shit when he signed for us).
The club often feel stuck in a now archaic conception that :
- United is very rich and ultimately rules the roost and gets premier access to the high profile targets.
- You only buy "the finished article" players, if necessary at great prices, to build a sure fire dominant team.
What you point is probably in part why young players are not sold as well as the Chelsea and City ones and the Academy seems to fall a little behind despite producing somewhat decently.
Maybe instead of paying 60m£+ on a player next summer, the higher ups would be wise to send some of that money to bringing onboard a competent DOF and some of his backroom team from elsewhere.
United aren't exactly the most well run organization we are far from it But this notion that you can simply Scale up what Brighton are doing at the Highest level is quite fanciful otherwise There would be many more Clubs doing it or Heck Brighton themselves would become One of the Top Clubs in next few years But I don't think they will because as you get Closer to the top pool of the players who can genuinely make the difference becomes smaller and smaller .
At the moment Every thing Brighton are doing is looking great But I have seen this being played too many times to think this will last or get any better than what it already is , Unless they get serious injection of cash outside of players sales and also develop bigger stadium to take care of future revenues even that might not be enough to truly establish themselves as one of the big hitters .
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Absolutely agree. I've been proposing this transfer for months, made a post about it yesterday on a different thread. Kone is exactly what we need - tall, physical, press resistant ball carrier who would help us progress the ball and massively help in build up. Perfect partner for Casemiro in a double pivot. Could be molded into a truly world class player, he's still young. Probably the future of French midfield, with Camavinga and Tchouameni.
Another solution is Khephren Thuram(another young French talent, son of Lilian Thuram), very similar player(and similar age). They could potentially emulate what Frenkie de Jong was doing for ETH at Ajax, there is a reason why he so desperately chased him. Ryan Gravenberch also resembles that profile.
I cannot for the life of me understand why we aren't after these midfielders. Especially Kone, Thuram as a second choice. I am convinced they are exactly what we need.
I think there's strong evidence that some areas the scouting network is demonstrable but others not so much. Hojlund as it stands feels like a signing that's reminiscent of a functional recruitment process taking time to identify and target a player I'll credit the club for this approach irrespective if the player is a success it's a model that needs to be consistently followed.
The signings made in the middle of the park suggest otherwise if we go from players the club had strong interest in it's along the lines of Casemiro, Eriksen, Mount, Rabiot, Amrabat, FDJ. It's a scattergun approach like there's no settled perspective on what is expected from the midfield.
Adnan is the one that springs to mind for me.
What about Sangare,looks like he has a decent all round game and is only 25 too
Surprised no one’s mentioned him but I think Hato is well on the way to being a world class left sided CB. The performances he’s turning in at just 17 is ridiculous.
Hadn't heard of him before but my word his long passing is very impressive. Definitely one to monitor. Andre and Alan Varela are 2 other South American midfielders I've watched a bit and like a lot (just found out the latter has moved to Porto for €8m, think that will definitely be seen as a massive bargain).
22 year old striker, Victor Boniface. Joined Leverkusen from Belgian side Royal Union St-Gilloise this summer.
Performed well last season in Europa League.
Performed well last season in Europa League.
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Sacha Boey
22yo plays right back, good defensively and going forward, looks a top player and will make the jump to the big fives league that Kim min Jae made
22yo plays right back, good defensively and going forward, looks a top player and will make the jump to the big fives league that Kim min Jae made
Antonio Nusa (18), young Norwegian left winger, playing for Club Brugge.
Second youngest goal scorer in the CL, scoring against Porto last year. Very fast, skillful. He just ran past Osasuna defenders yesterday. One of the biggest talents I've seen in years.
Apparently Chelsea are interested, as are other PL clubs. He'll stay for another year in Bruges. Would cost €35m+
Second youngest goal scorer in the CL, scoring against Porto last year. Very fast, skillful. He just ran past Osasuna defenders yesterday. One of the biggest talents I've seen in years.
Apparently Chelsea are interested, as are other PL clubs. He'll stay for another year in Bruges. Would cost €35m+
Hardly news these days.
Looks very good!
Will becoming to Old Trafford in the UCL with Galatasary in our group
Should be investigated for child trafficking at this point.
Wonder if we have been in contact with Carrick about Hayden Hackney, he started this season where he left off and is performing very well in a Middlesbrough team that has started badly. Has drawn a lot of comparisons to Carrick himself.
Was very impressed with him in the CL games last season for Brugge, along with Onyedika and Sylla to an extent.
Sylla's been sold too, to Strasbourg. Bought for €200k, sold for €20m a good year later
Onyedika is a good player too, still young but instrumental in that midfield.
Brugge's scouting has been excellent last couple of years. Sold Sylla (20m), Openda (16m), De Ketelaere (36m), Kossounou (23m), Diatta (17m) in recent years. Insane money for a Belgian team.
It's crazy. I see a new south American child on the move to them every week, if feels like that anyway.
They were before. They got a transfer ban.
They've probably just found other ways around. Like that kid that's going to sign for them in 3 years.
Dont liek judging of youtube videos and like quite a few the standard of oppoenent doesnt look great, but he looks good.
But then totally doing judgement from youtube videos, the one stood out for me, very young but Kendry Paez rally looks like he could be some player....then again number of teen midfielders look fantastic and never make it huge, remember a Spanish one years ago, cant remember his name, at Atletico Madrid, looked an amazing player and only seen him play a couple of times since
Oliver Torres?
Thats the one. Obviously there ar elots of young players look impressive that go on to have average careers. There is the odd one though I feel if they had of came here could have been stellar.One always sticks in my mind is Javier Pastore. Went to PSG at the start of there oil money transfers and they signed so many shiny toys, stayed there a long time with brief appearances, mainly on the left, such a waste. We were fairly heavily linked, really as convinced he would have been a huge player here and one of the best in the world
What happened to Enzo Le Fee?
Signed for Rennes