Zidane Iqbal

[Rood]

Been a bit of a waste of a season for him really - made several matchday squads but hardly any minutes

stuck in that difficult spot between Youth team and First team

Would have been better off going on loan

I think he was close to loan deal in Jan but then VdB got injured

 

[Cassidy]

Iraq in group E, with Uruguay, England and Tunisia. It will be a very good experience for him if they let him go.

Agree. It still makes zero sense as to why the club refused

 

[Giggsyking]

Agree. It still makes zero sense as to why the club refused

Lets see, the iraqi FA chief is to visit the club in 2 days to try convince them let him go.

 

[Rood]

They could surely let him go with some kind of emergency recall agreement

 

[KikiDaKats]

A very strange decision and unfair to the player if he wants to go. It’s not like we are actually giving him game time.
Unless he is having injury problems stopping him from currently getting games, we can’t lay claim to what international tournaments he should play in or get game in.

 

[Beaucoup]

I fully expect Iqbal to leave the club sooner than later in search of first team minutes,

 

[zaafi]

I'm desperate for him to make it here. He's got ridiculous talent, and with a bit more upper body strength, maybe he could be our Modric for the next 10 years

 

[Ace of Spades]

I would be pissed if we kept him and not even give him a chance. And he has done well when given an opportunity.

So either play him, or let him go and get some minutes ffs.

 

[Giggsyking]

Apparently after a long meeting last week between the Iraqi FA president and the club in Manchester, the club refused to let him go to the u20 world cup. An Iraqi journalist said they talked with Zidane and he is sad about it. He also said he has offers from Italy and the Netherlands for the next season.

 

[Stobzilla]

Italy and the Netherlands for the next season.

I imagine this has always been the plan we had in mind, train with the firsts all this year go on pre-season with us and then a loan to a good level for a full season next year. Comes back ready to fight for a spot or move on.

 

[Rampant Red Rodriguez]

Waste of time for him this season and I don't understand why a player of his ability is refused to go out to play competitive international football.

He is in urgent need of good loan deals to progress as a player. I enjoy watching him play and would hate it if he didn't make it because of staying put for too long and stagnating.

 

[MarkoDolohov]

Gutted he hasnt played for us much lately, hoping he has a banging pre-season and gets a string of games next season/going somewhere on loan to develop.

 

[Prodigal7]

Waste of time for him this season and I don't understand why a player of his ability is refused to go out to play competitive international football.

He is in urgent need of good loan deals to progress as a player. I enjoy watching him play and would hate it if he didn't make it because of staying put for too long and stagnating.

That's not really true at all. Training with first team players this season and being a member of the squad has been a huge boost to him and his progress. Our fans are so impatient!

ETH knows what he's doing. Iqbal can play regular football next season and I expect that's what ETH will want him to do. But it's important he gets to know what it takes to be a Man United player first.

 

[M Bison]

Shame we havent seen much/anything of him, EtH must be concerned he's not at the level yet though.

 

[Rampant Red Rodriguez]

That's not really true at all. Training with first team players this season and being a member of the squad has been a huge boost to him and his progress. Our fans are so impatient!

ETH knows what he's doing. Iqbal can play regular football next season and I expect that's what ETH will want him to do. But it's important he gets to know what it takes to be a Man United player first.

I expect you are right there mate, and he is still a very young lad. But I just feel like he could have played a part this season when we were desperate for CM. Had he been playing for a few minutes from the start of the season he could have played a part in the business end of the season. Just disheartened that he didn't make an impact on the first team this year.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

been frustrating to watch his lack of involvement, but based on our squad needs and what we should see for next year with limited transfer budget he 100 percent needs to be involved for us. No more fred or mctominay as our rotation options, we need to start trying new players in search of quality.

 

[Stobzilla]

Hopefully we get this Top 4 shit done with quickly and we can play him and a few other kids against Fulham.

 

[Wrecking ralf]

Depending on who we bring in will decide his role next year. But he’s going to be a good player. Looks very press resistant but just not at a level that he could be counted on in a premiership game of any magnitude. We’ve set the bar of how our loans should go so try Amad. I’d be inclined to let Sunderland take Zidane next year should they not gain promotion as it looks like we’ll keep Amad based on his successful season

 

[CaseHero]

ETH knows what he is doing. He knows the boy has talent but it takes more than that to step up depending on what role is expected of him. They will be working on his mentality, embedding club values.

I dld expect to see more of him but you never know how they progress behind the scenes.

 

[kundalini]

He did well today. He is physically improving.

I stumbled across a 4 mins + highlights video of his performance for Iraq against Russia. While it wasn't perfect, I liked a lot of what he did. Now I'm confused as to why Ten Hag got Sabitzer on loan rather than give Zidane a few starts; I guess it was the safer option but seems to go against the history of the club.

I've learned over the years not to read too much into pre-season friendlies. However, an international match against Russia is likely to be a much higher level.

Zidane has been an unused sub for 17 first team matches this season; which is ridiculous. There have been so many opportunities to give him the last 10 or 15 mins or even a start against a modest opponent. Regardless of whether United see Zidane as a possible first team player or someone we hope to sell for a fee in a couple of years, giving him 0 mins doesn't help him attract loan options or convince his manager next season (while out on loan) to trust him.

 

[Lost bear]

Yes, no doubt ETH has his reasons.

I'm disppointed too, as Zidane looked so very, very good the first couple of times I saw him for the first team. He's an undoubted talent. Let's hope we see more of him next year.

 

[limerickcitykid]

I stumbled across a 4 mins + highlights video of his performance for Iraq against Russia. While it wasn't perfect, I liked a lot of what he did. Now I'm confused as to why Ten Hag got Sabitzer on loan rather than give Zidane a few starts; I guess it was the safer option but seems to go against the history of the club.

I've learned over the years not to read too much into pre-season friendlies. However, an international match against Russia is likely to be a much higher level.

Zidane has been an unused sub for 17 first team matches this season; which is ridiculous. Regardless of whether United see Zidane as a possible first team player or someone we hope to sell for a fee in a couple of years, giving him 0 mins doesn't help him attract loan options or convince his next manager to trust him.

Why would an international friendly between two poor countries be a much higher level?

Why we brought in Sabitzer is simple, he’s miles better.

How about posting some highlights of Iqbal getting played off the park by Manchester City’s u21s and dominated by Oscar Bobb? Then post the highlights of it happening again in the reverse fixture.

Ten Hag is here to win matches, not play promo events for Zidane Iqbal. He’s nowhere near good enough and rightly hasn’t made a single appearance. He’s not even a good u21s player.

He spent weeks training with Preston and their manager said he probably isn’t good enough for the Championship. But somehow it’s ridiculous he isn’t getting minutes for Manchester United.

 

[kundalini]

Why would an international friendly between two poor countries be a much higher level?

Why we brought in Sabitzer is simple, he’s miles better.

How about posting some highlights of Iqbal getting played off the park by Manchester City’s u21s and dominated by Oscar Bobb? Then post the highlights of it happening again in the reverse fixture.

Ten Hag is here to win matches, not play promo events for Zidane Iqbal. He’s nowhere near good enough and rightly hasn’t made a single appearance. He’s not even a good u21s player.

He spent weeks training with Preston and their manager said he probably isn’t good enough for the Championship. But somehow it’s ridiculous he isn’t getting minutes for Manchester United.

You clearly have far more knowledge about Zidane Iqbal than I do.

Russia are currently ranked 37th, one place below Scotland. Until I checked, I assumed they would be a bit higher than that. Iraq 67th. During the early pre-season matches, players are building their fitness, in the hope of being in decent shape by the start of the season.

There was a time when I watched a fair number of U23/U21/reserve team matches but that was several years ago. As the average age dropped, the standard of play just looked nothing like PL football.

I'm not surprised a Championship manager didn't think Zidane Iqbal was suitable. I don't even know the style of play Preston adopt beyond wing backs. A player with Iqbal's strengths and weaknesses is likely to be completely unsuited to the way some Championship teams play. Championship managers build a squad to cope with 46 matches, not whether a player could come on for the last 10 mins of a Europa League or domestic Cup game, or be given a few starts during an injury crisis.

 

[AltiUn]

You clearly have far more knowledge about Zidane Iqbal than I do.

There was a time when I watched a fair number of U23/U21/reserve team matches but that was several years ago. As the average age dropped, the standard of play just looked nothing like PL football.

I'm not surprised a Championship manager didn't think Zidane Iqbal was suitable. I don't even know the style of play Preston adopt beyond wing backs.

It wasn't pretty, I can promise you that. That North End midfield was crying out for some quality so bit of a damning indictment if they chose not to sign him.

 

[Varun1]

That's not really true at all. Training with first team players this season and being a member of the squad has been a huge boost to him and his progress. Our fans are so impatient!

ETH knows what he's doing. Iqbal can play regular football next season and I expect that's what ETH will want him to do. But it's important he gets to know what it takes to be a Man United player first.

Every single good young player has started playing first team at a young age. Not saying Iqbal will be good enough to be a mainstay in the 1st team, but am not sure if the benefits of training with the first team outweighs actual minutes on the pitch.

The same argument comes up about Caicedo when fans bemoan the fact we didn't bring him in before he moved to Brighton.

 

[KikiDaKats]

I think he should have had some game time this season but we were hardly ever in a position to in the later stages of the season. Garnacho was lucky in that sense because he came in at a time our forward line looked settled and giving playing time wasn’t to the detriment of play during that period plus Sancho left a gap for a youngster to come in, whilst our cm in the first half of the season was getting new players bedded in and senior players getting fit in.
I like his ability and not sure how he will fit into the senior setup but 17 times on the bench is a seal of approval for a youngster at this stage. Unlucky for him how our squad did not settle early enough for the manager to do some experimentation with youth. Maybe a loan spell to a French club won’t harm him or Mainoo.

 

[Demaw]

It wasn't pretty, I can promise you that. That North End midfield was crying out for some quality so bit of a damning indictment if they chose not to sign him.

I agree, he has some skill but very slow and not sure why he is highly rated. Watch some other under 23 games and there are much much better kids not getting any wraps.

 

[AltiUn]

I agree, he has some skill but very slow and not sure why he is highly rated. Watch some other under 23 games and there are much much better kids not getting any wraps.

To his credit I thought he did exceptionally well in pre-season so I thought we might have seen him once or twice since.

 

[Demaw]

How about posting some highlights of Iqbal getting played off the park by Manchester City’s u21s and dominated by Oscar Bobb? Then post the highlights of it happening again in the reverse fixture.

Ten Hag is here to win matches, not play promo events for Zidane Iqbal. He’s nowhere near good enough and rightly hasn’t made a single appearance. He’s not even a good u21s player.

He spent weeks training with Preston and their manager said he probably isn’t good enough for the Championship. But somehow it’s ridiculous he isn’t getting minutes for Manchester United.

Yep, that to me sums it up. I actually wonder if we are pumping him to get a big middle eastern club to pay big dollars to sign him? An example is Mainoo would destroy him all over the park.

 

[pascell]

ETH knows what he is doing. He knows the boy has talent but it takes more than that to step up depending on what role is expected of him. They will be working on his mentality, embedding club values.

I dld expect to see more of him but you never know how they progress behind the scenes.

Working on his mentality, embedding club values, what are they doing, interrogating the lad everyday when he turns up to training to make sure they're embedded?

Maybe he's just not ready physically, or we don't feel he's good enough.

 

[kundalini]

It wasn't pretty, I can promise you that. That North End midfield was crying out for some quality so bit of a damning indictment if they chose not to sign him.

I did a google search using the terms "Zidane Iqbal Preston". The only useful info that I could find was a quote from Ryan Lowe from mid Jan 2023 to the Lancashire Post when asked about rumours of Zidane joining Preston on loan:

“They joined us last year for a week and they were excellent, the pair of them. But there is no interest in us taking Zidane on loan, unless I’m told different from Man United and they say he wants to come, then it might be a different conversation. I haven’t been told that.”

 

[CaseHero]

Working on his mentality, embedding club values, what are they doing, interrogating the lad everyday when he turns up to training to make sure they're embedded?

Maybe he's just not ready physically, or we don't feel he's good enough.

Physically, he looks like he is coming along nicely and I'm sure he can hold his own. Looks like he has all the talent in the world to be fair.

All youngsters especially in today's game and like a club like ours, will be working on the mentality of a player. I'm quite sure he isn't being subjected to waterboarding or any other method.

 

[King7Eric]

Yes, no doubt ETH has his reasons.

I'm disppointed too, as Zidane looked so very, very good the first couple of times I saw him for the first team. He's an undoubted talent. Let's hope we see more of him next year.

This has actually been our biggest failure in recent years with regards to youth development. The first team manager really shouldn't have a say on youth player development unless he's going to properly play him in the first team. Not solely blaming ETH but the club structure should not allow the first team manager to make this call.

The odds of any player from the academy making it to the first team are already miniscule and even the slightest bit of mismanagement sets them further back. Another reason we really need a proper structure because a first team manager by definition will be focused on results, which isn't always in synergy with youth development.

 

[Hester_manc]

Odd that a young player is on the bench so many times, but never really given any chances.

 

[Beaucoup]

Odd that a young player is on the bench so many times, but never really given any chances.

No good for anyone, you cannot beat playing games for development.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Odd that a young player is on the bench so many times, but never really given any chances.

Not so odd, happened to a lot of players who just couldn’t make the cut. They’re too good for U23 but can’t be depended on for important games.

Andreas Pereira is a big example.

 

[Rood]

He spent weeks training with Preston and their manager said he probably isn’t good enough for the Championship. But somehow it’s ridiculous he isn’t getting minutes for Manchester United.

AFAIK he was set to go to PNE and it was only because VdB got injured that it didn't happen

 

[Hester_manc]

Not so odd, happened to a lot of players who just couldn’t make the cut. They’re too good for U23 but can’t be depended on for important games.

Andreas Pereira is a big example.

Pereira got a lot of chances.

 

[Lost bear]

This has actually been our biggest failure in recent years with regards to youth development. The first team manager really shouldn't have a say on youth player development unless he's going to properly play him in the first team. Not solely blaming ETH but the club structure should not allow the first team manager to make this call.

The odds of any player from the academy making it to the first team are already miniscule and even the slightest bit of mismanagement sets them further back. Another reason we really need a proper structure because a first team manager by definition will be focused on results, which isn't always in synergy with youth development.

Yes, I’m a big fan of ETH but that’s a good structural point.

 

[ThanksBoss26]

Can’t find where it originated but some rumour on social media that he’s close to joining Utrecht.

Not clear either if permanent or loan, I’d guess the latter.