[AngeloHenriquez]

Quite simply, with the amount of games, and attacking talent at our disposal, it will take injuries for him to get proper game time.
Out of 3 attacking spots, he has to displace Rooney, RVP, Falcao, Mata
Out of 3 midfield spots, he has to displace ADM, Herrera, Blind, Carrick

He will have limited starts this season, hence why I'd like to see him start for a PL team with the option of a recall.

 

[JPRouve]

Quite simply, with the amount of games, and attacking talent at our disposal, it will take injuries for him to get proper game time.
Out of 3 attacking spots, he has to displace Rooney, RVP, Falcao, Mata
Out of 3 midfield spots, he has to displace ADM, Herrera, Blind, Carrick

He will have limited starts this season, hence why I'd like to see him start for a PL team with the option of a recall.

And i prefer to see him with the team while Van Gaal is implementing his "philosophy". And after, probably in january, maybe send him on loan.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I just think he's going through one of those lengthy dips in form that can happen to young players. His WC tournament didn't go well and he's not looked great in his first team appearances so far this season. He's still got enough about him to look better than U-21/reserve players but he's not at a level where he should be getting many PL minutes. Not when we have other options. It happens. Sterling had a really difficult time at Liverpool in his second season, for example. People just need to be patient. With him and the manager who's not picking him.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

And i prefer to see him with the team while Van Gaal is implementing his "philosophy". And after, probably in january, maybe send him on loan.

I wouldn't be against that.. you don't disagree you'd rather him get game time, but prefer he was educated in the system that will be familiar to us moving forward, that all makes sense.

 

[caisenma]

I just think he's going through one of those lengthy dips in form that can happen to young players. His WC tournament didn't go well and he's not looked great in his first team appearances so far this season. He's still got enough about him to look better than U-21/reserve players but he's not at a level where he should be getting many PL minutes. Not when we have other options. It happens. Sterling had a really difficult time at Liverpool in his second season, for example. People just need to be patient. With him and the manager who's not picking him.

Come on. How can he have poor form if he hasn't had a start since May, has had just a few minutes of cameos and as for a "poor" world cup, he played 60 minutes in the entire tournament. I really don't think that's fair.

 

[Raoul]

Can't believe some people losing their shit over a 19 year old not being involved much. Give it time. If he was playing, the same people would be saying we need to protect him.

Patience.

Not only that but the amount of people who think they know better than Van Gaal is quite comical. They have zero insight into his logic, what happens at training, and everywhere else we have no access to.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Come on. How can he have poor form if he hasn't had a start since May, has had just a few minutes of cameos and as for a "poor" world cup, he played 60 minutes in the entire tournament. I really don't think that's fair.

You answered your own questions there.

If was at his best he'd have featured more than he has, for club and country.

 

[Sammyjunn]

It's very soon, he may become a starter by the end of the season or the season after. He is not playing at the moment because he is not good enough in the eyes of the coach, same coach who gave Wilson a chance. And i think that if LVG rates him we will keep him no matter what.

As for the bold part, Mata has been good, Rooney has been great, RVP is meh but efficient and Falcao is good. The only player he could compete with is RVP and we have Wilson who is a better striker. And Januzaj has no holding play in him (at PL level), so he won't take Falcao's place.

Mata good, Rooney great? Mata has been pretty poor, he has added very little apart from his 2 goals. Rooney has been good.

Patience is a virtue. Rooney is 28 and RVP is 31.

There is no way Januzaj will wait for like 2 *at least* years and sit on the bench. He can go to every club in the world, give me one good reason why he would stagnate his development for 2 years or more?

 

[red_7]

I really fear we lose another top academy product if he doesn't get game time soon. He needs to play!

 

[caisenma]

You answered your own questions there.

If was at his best he'd have featured more than he has, for club and country.

If everyone else was measured by those same standards, there'd be 0 footballers on the pitch. He was officially named our player of the month three times last season, including in January and May (a short month, granted), I'm not sure what else a player can do to earn time on the pitch.

 

[Devil may care]

I really fear we lose another top academy product if he doesn't get game time soon. He needs to play!

I agree, it's not like he hasn't shown that he can perform at this level, and his development will stagnate if all he gets is 15 minutes here and there, we need to trust him.

 

[JPRouve]

If everyone else was measured by those same standards, there'd be 0 footballers on the pitch. He was officially named our player of the month three times last season, including in January and May (a short month, granted), I'm not sure what else a player can do to earn time on the pitch.

Be clearly better than the starters, which he is not, he is not a better striker than Wilson, Falcao, RVP or Rooney and he is not a better #10 than Rooney or Mata.

He had a big opportunity against MK Dons and he was shit while Pereira and Wilson showed good things, Januzaj is our second best Winger but we don't play with wingers, if he wants to play he has to force his way to the starting 11, he doesn't deserve any privileges.

And the fact that he was player of the month three times is totally irrelevant, Valencia has been player of the year and people are convinced that he is shit and always have been.

 

[Decotron]

The blind panic on here sometimes....

Lets look at the facts......He's on a long term contract. he's been excellent in the reserves of late. Working his arse off and scoring and assisting. If there was any issue with him this wouldn't have been the case.

Hes 19 and will get his chances as the season progresses and we develop more as a team.

 

[Redo91]

I really fear we lose another top academy product if he doesn't get game time soon. He needs to play!

He has a long term contract. This is completely different to the Pogba situation. He can't leave unless we are happy to let him go which I don't think we are.

 

[Rado_N]

The blind panic on here sometimes....

Lets look at the facts......He's on a long term contract. he's been excellent in the reserves of late. Working his arse off and scoring and assisting. If there was any issue with him this wouldn't have been the case.

Hes 19 and will get his chances as the season progresses and we develop more as a team.

We can't truly know his level of desire until he gets a twitter account, though.

 

[jb8521]

Im all for seeing young players in the team and think he has the most potential of all our young players but he is still growing and gaining muscle as he fills out and this can make players quite susceptible to injury. He was over exposed last year and if he isnt managed properly now he might never get close to his full potential. Hes been involved in more games this season than at this stage last season and obviously everyone wants to see our best and most exciting young player on the pitch but the idea that people on here know better than a manager who is renowned for his ability to manage and bring through young players and an entire medical and coaching team who monitor everything about his daily life and character is ridiculous.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

This notion is utter rubbish imo. Taking correlation as causation makes no sense as far as im concerned. While those players did have lots of injuries other players who started early managed to go through their careers with relatively minor injuries throughout so its clear that the claim that too much football caused those injuries just cant be proven. I'm more of the logic that because this is a sport and lots of different individuals with different bodies injuries will happen to others while some will go through their careers relatively unscathed. How about we play the kid and stop coming up with theories that simply can't be proven. The other thing is Janu isn't exactly a baby, he's already 19 years old turning 20 in 4 months time.

It's not really 'coming up with theories' given that a lot of people within the game (including Fergie himself) have said the same, backed by their medical staffs. Whilst obviously every player is different, I'd be interested to know what other examples you can think of other players playing racking up Giggs/Owen-esque appearance stats at age 19 (we're talking 40-50 games a season here). When you come to think about it there's actually an incredibly small sample size.

Anyway, I'm not saying we shouldn't play him at all, personally I'd love to see him starting over Mata in the next game, given that Mata didn't exactly make a strong case for his inclusion in Rooney's absence. But there's ultimately no need to risk him, he's not agitating for a move or anything and we're not short on quality in his position so by any standards it'd be daft to have him playing every game.

 

[daniel9988]

Regardless, the best way for him to improve is to get more game time.

 

[JPRouve]

It's not really 'coming up with theories' given that a lot of people within the game (including Fergie himself) have said the same, backed by their medical staffs. Whilst obviously every player is different, I'd be interested to know what other examples you can think of other players playing racking up Giggs/Owen-esque appearance stats at age 19 (we're talking 40-50 games a season here). When you come to think about it there's actually an incredibly small sample size.

Anyway, I'm not saying we shouldn't play him at all, personally I'd love to see him starting over Mata in the next game, given that Mata didn't exactly make a strong case for his inclusion in Rooney's absence. But there's ultimately no need to risk him, he's not agitating for a move or anything and we're not short on quality in his position so by any standards it'd be daft to have him playing every game.

I have, Pogba, Messi, Rooney, Thiago, Benzema, Sterling, Gotze, Draxler, Verratti, Kroos, Aguero, Higuain, Falcao, Neymar, Hazard...
I think that it's 50/50 half of this players are or have been injury prone, the other ones are freaks

Regardless, the best way for him to improve is to get more game time.

We are two month into the season and he featured in most of the game, if didn't played lately it is mainly due to game circumstances Rooney's red card and Shaw "dead knee".

 

[Shimo]

Adnan's age should not come into the equation when it comes to whether he should be playing or not. At least per LVG philosophy/view because he's said experience is not a matter of age.

Right now unfortunately I think he is competing against players that are truly on the top end of the positions he could play in. Even though the likes of Mata, RVP are not performing to what they are capable of - knowing they are capable of a higher standard and that they do have the experience, keeps them ahead of Januzaj. I do think if the likes of Mata, RVP continue to play they've been and LVG doesn't give Januzaj a shot, then not only is he being hypocritical but, also could potentially lead to Januzaj getting unsettled.

Personally, I think we could do with him on the pitch to give us that one additional threat to Di Maria in taking players on, if Di Maria is not on his game or fades, with our current make up of our 11, we have a harder time creating. Januzaj in place of Valencia against WBA is something I'd love to see us give a shot.

 

[In Rainbows]

Be clearly better than the starters, which he is not, he is not a better striker than Wilson, Falcao, RVP or Rooney and he is not a better #10 than Rooney or Mata.

He had a big opportunity against MK Dons and he was shit while Pereira and Wilson showed good things, Januzaj is our second best Winger but we don't play with wingers, if he wants to play he has to force his way to the starting 11, he doesn't deserve any privileges.

And the fact that he was player of the month three times is totally irrelevant, Valencia has been player of the year and people are convinced that he is shit and always have been.

I'll never agree that he was shit against Mk Dons. I think his performance caught flak just because he was part of that horrible result. If you watch his individual touches in that match you would know he wasn't shit. He wasn't great, but he was at the very least decent.

 

[JPRouve]

I'll never agree that he was shit against Mk Dons. I think his performance caught flak just because he was part of that horrible result. If you watch his individual touches in that match you would know he wasn't shit. He wasn't great, but he was at the very least decent.

Kagawa was decent before his injury, Januzaj was useless.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I am a little worried about Januzaj. He's a ridiculously talented footballer and had he been at a United team circa 2004, which was comfortably in the top 4 and werent stocked with expensive top buys, then he'd be playing week in week out. Had he been at liverpool in place of sterling he'd be playing week in week out. But at United we have an odd situation where we've been in freefall from a position of a absolute greatness, and aalso have spent big time to redeem the same, which makes those expensive big players playing very important. It's a shame and I hope he has chooses to work hard and force his way in because loads of young players and most infact would want to move.

 

[In Rainbows]

Kagawa was decent before his injury, Januzaj was useless.

We'll just agree to disagree. He almost scored, provided some nice passes, and did a great job at bringing the ball up the field from the right wingback position. The only way you can describe him as useless is if you expected him to score a goal. The midfielders, Chicha, and defenders were useless in that match, but not Januzaj.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I don't think Januzaj has been afforded enough starts to conclude that he's not on form, besides which you're going to get some inconsistency from youngsters, we suffered through the first 3 years of Ronaldo, where most of us were lording over his potential one game, and pulling our hair out for the next couple, before he exploded into life in his 4th year with us and never looked back.
The one thing Ronaldo recieved through it all, regardless of his inconsistency was game time here at United, and Januzaj should be afforded similarly.

Mata hasn't cemented his role in the team, far from it infact, shunted to the bench despite finally getting to operate in his favoured position no less, in favor of Rooney, likewise RvP is looking a shadow of himself as of late and Januzaj still isn't getting a sniff, he's scored 4 goals in 2 youth games in the meantime, theres not much else he can do to try and impress LvG.

 

[JPRouve]

We'll just agree to disagree. He almost scored, provided some nice passes, and did a great job at bringing the ball up the field from the right wingback position. The only way you can describe him as useless is if you expected him to score a goal. The midfielders, Chicha, and defenders were useless in that match, but not Januzaj.

Maybe, you are right.

 

[ZDwyr]

I'm not concerned that he will leave like some people are, my concern is primarily that his development will stagnate pretty severely.

 

[united_99]

He is not a typical LvG winger, so he will hesitate playing him on the wing. In the No 10 he will be behind Rooney/Mata and once Carrick is back and we buy a DM he might even be behind Herrera in the No 10 role.
As striker he is obviously behind the big 3.
The EL right now would be the perfect opportunity to play him and Wilson in ... extremely depressing actually we are not in it!

 

[Hellboy]

He is not a typical LvG winger, so he will hesitate playing him on the wing. In the No 10 he will be behind Rooney/Mata and once Carrick is back and we buy a DM he might even be behind Herrera in the No 10 role.
As striker he is obviously behind the big 3.
The EL right now would be the perfect opportunity to play him and Wilson in ... extremely depressing actually we are not in it!

Thought the EL would be great for the youngsters too. But we would have fielded U10 defenders.

 

[finneh]

I said at the start of the season that we shouldn't worry about his inevitable lack of game time this year. At 19 I don't think it's a bad thing to just be with the first team, training alongside great player's, getting used to a new system and playing occasionally, mostly off the bench. Unfortunately this has been exacerbated by being knocked out of the Carling Cup.

The main issue will be next season, whereby hopefully we will have around 50% more games to play. 15/16 and 16/17 will be key seasons for him whereby he needs to be playing every week, in his ideal position. If we can't offer him 30-40 full games where he plays the majority in his favoured position we need to learn from the mistakes made with Welbeck and let him go on loan (although I think Januzaj is in a different League potential wise).

The difficulty is he doesn't really fit into the current diamond we are playing, which suits the majority of our best player's and this is unlikely to change next season (unless we have a bit of an overhaul). If this is the case I wouldn't be against letting him join a progressive team like Swansea for a year or two. I can imagine him returning to us at 22 as a quality player with over 100 Premier League games under his belt.

Unfortunately we aren't in a position currently to gamble on a 19 year old coming good, at the potential cost of Champions League qualification.

 

[NoLogo]

If we really are intent on playing the diamond for the rest of the season and next season, which I hope we are not, we really need to sort out a loan for him rather sooner than later. I'm pretty sure there would be a lot of good team that would be interested in a 2 year loan. Maybe even some of the Spanish or German teams that play CL football.

Of course I would like to see him make his break through at our club but with a formation that only empolys one attacking midfielder/winger I see little chance for this to happen.

 

[Will Absolute]

I'm pretty sure there would be a lot of good team that would be interested in a 2 year loan. Maybe even some of the Spanish or German teams that play CL football.

Considering that he was, and is, one of the most highly-sought after young players in the world, I think that's a fair bet.

 

[El-Manos]

You answered your own questions there.

If was at his best he'd have featured more than he has, for club and country.

That's not entirely true, sometimes the manager simply prefers experience. Januzaj was on a high when he went to Brazil. Yet he was rarely given the opportunity due to his lack of experience and caps. And to be fair to him, Van Gaal has not given him many opportunities as of yet either.

 

[bosnian_red]

That's not entirely true, sometimes the manager simply prefers experience. Januzaj was on a high when he went to Brazil. Yet he was rarely given the opportunity due to his lack of experience and caps. And to be fair to him, Van Gaal has not given him many opportunities as of yet either.

He's had a lot of sub appearances so far, maybe flu.d have played a bit more, but he's not first choice yet. He's only 19 years old and he shouldn't expect to be a starter with the options we have. What he needs to do is stay focused and do his best in training and the game time he gets to force his way into the team, because nobody is going to just give him a start just because he's a promising youngster. He has to prove he deserves to play ahead of Van persie, mata, rooney or falcao because we won't be rotating much this season because of a lack of midweek games.

 

[krazyrobus]

Is Januzaj's lack of game time down to him or the fact that we are trying to bed in a new midfield and forward line with established pros?

It makes far more sense to integrate the seasoned pros first before you bring in your up and coming players into that. We already have enough issues with the whole RVP or Falcao, Rooney or Mata and eventually Carrick or Blind before we even bring Januzaj into the equation.

 

[bosnian_red]

I said at the start of the season that we shouldn't worry about his inevitable lack of game time this year. At 19 I don't think it's a bad thing to just be with the first team, training alongside great player's, getting used to a new system and playing occasionally, mostly off the bench. Unfortunately this has been exacerbated by being knocked out of the Carling Cup.

The main issue will be next season, whereby hopefully we will have around 50% more games to play. 15/16 and 16/17 will be key seasons for him whereby he needs to be playing every week, in his ideal position. If we can't offer him 30-40 full games where he plays the majority in his favoured position we need to learn from the mistakes made with Welbeck and let him go on loan (although I think Januzaj is in a different League potential wise).

The difficulty is he doesn't really fit into the current diamond we are playing, which suits the majority of our best player's and this is unlikely to change next season (unless we have a bit of an overhaul). If this is the case I wouldn't be against letting him join a progressive team like Swansea for a year or two. I can imagine him returning to us at 22 as a quality player with over 100 Premier League games under his belt.

Unfortunately we aren't in a position currently to gamble on a 19 year old coming good, at the potential cost of Champions League qualification.

Personally I don't think we'll be playing the diamond by the end of the season, or at least as our main formation. By next season I think RvP will probably just be a squad player, I doubt mata will still be here and we'll probably sign a midfielder like strootman. So that would probably leave us playing a 4-3-3 with di Maria, falcao, januzaj up top, and 3 of strootman, herrera, blind and rooney in the midfield 3. We'll also have other competitions so he'll see a lot more game time.

 

[Glanville95]

The blind panic on here sometimes....

Lets look at the facts......He's on a long term contract. he's been excellent in the reserves of late. Working his arse off and scoring and assisting. If there was any issue with him this wouldn't have been the case.

Hes 19 and will get his chances as the season progresses and we develop more as a team.

Spot on.

It's as if people expect a nineteen year-old to be an automatic starter purely because he has an abundance of potential. Last season we were far too reliant on him for long periods of the season and now we have added much needed quality and competition which should act as extra motivation for Januzaj to enhance his game and prove himself in the team. Learning off of players like di Maria, Herrera, etc, should be of great benefit too him in the grand schemes of things.

He will get his chance, he just needs to work hard in training, keep impressing the manager and have some semblance of patience and he will get his opportunities in the team. Sterling struggled for form at the beginning of last season for Liverpool and look at the trajectory he has taken in the new year. The same can happen for Januzaj. Loaning him out would be idiocy when we have a small squad anyway. He's a good alternative to our other attackers and offers something different. Not too mention players will pick up injuries and loss of form. He is needed.

 

[bosnian_red]

Is Januzaj's lack of game time down to him or the fact that we are trying to bed in a new midfield and forward line with established pros?

It makes far more sense to integrate the seasoned pros first before you bring in your up and coming players into that. We already have enough issues with the whole RVP or Falcao, Rooney or Mata and eventually Carrick or Blind before we even bring Januzaj into the equation.

I'd say it's simply because RvP, Rooney, falcao, mata and di Maria are all better players then him and so they'll start ahead of him. All there is to it.

 

[JPRouve]

I need to know why are we arguing here ?

Januzaj played in 6 of our 8 games, this season. And hadn't be particularly good in one of them.

So, why should he be treated differently ? The only game where LVG made a clear choice against Januzaj, was the Everton game and he chose Wilson to replace Falcao, so a striker for an other striker, against West Ham we had to use one substitution after Rooney's red card, and against Everton one substitution to replace Shaw.
Now if someone have a problem with that i don't understand because Wilson have been good in all his appearances, he hasn't been inferior to Januzaj, not even once.
I feel that some of us want to see Januzaj treated differently, which his comprehensible he was our only good thing last season, but it's not fair

 

[finneh]

Personally I don't think we'll be playing the diamond by the end of the season, or at least as our main formation. By next season I think RvP will probably just be a squad player, I doubt mata will still be here and we'll probably sign a midfielder like strootman. So that would probably leave us playing a 4-3-3 with di Maria, falcao, januzaj up top, and 3 of strootman, herrera, blind and rooney in the midfield 3. We'll also have other competitions so he'll see a lot more game time.

I still think we'd need at least 1 other top class winger to convert to a 4-3-3. Having Januzaj and Di Maria for 60 games wouldn't work and I highly doubt Nani/Valenica/Young will be in the manager's thoughts. I agree with you if we signed someone like Reus, particularly if RVP's form doesn't improve.