Adnan Januzaj

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Hardly surprising that a Manchester United youngster is hyped, perhaps a tad excessively, after a full debut like that, where he turned the game on its head, in a pretty high pressure match for us really given our poor start.

For those who have only seen him play for the first team it might seem unjustified, premature and a bit over the top, but his potential has been totally obvious to anyone who has watched him play in the academy/reserves over the past couple of years. He's been truly special at every level, and he's continuing in the same vein for the first team.

Whilst the the debate about nationality only kicked off here in England after the Sunderland game, he's been courted by Belgium and Albania in particular for ages and has refused their advances several times re joining their youth set-ups, it's not all just because of two goals against Sunderland.
 
I don't even understand the international issue. What is it actually for? If he was simply torn on which country he wanted to play for, then I'd get that, but it seems to be under the guise of this "focusing on his club career" thing, and I don't understand what that means. When all the other players go away for international duty does he sit in a room and concentrate really hard on a spreadsheet of his planned career path? Bone up on his United history? Stare at the club crest for a week? I don't understand what it's supposed to be doing for him. Or what going away with Belgium or Albania or Equatorial Guinea would do to negatively affect his club career. Fergie used to actively encourage youngsters going away with their countries.
He's biding his time to play for Engerlund
 
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Adnan apparently has had an interview with KTV(Albanian channel). He talks about Man United and also ofcourse about Albania. Let's see what he says.

KTV is a Kosovan TV, but strangely enough I can't find anything on their website about this interview. There are some other articles for him, apparently now Milan is interested on him too, but nothing on this interview.

Anyway will check it latter, and if I find it, I'll post it's translation here.
 
Well I hope that he has a preference to play for England frankly. The fact is, that would mean him needing to stay in England for years to come to qualify, which suits me fine.
 
So, according to KTV, United have offered 15k weekly wage, with 1200 extra pounds for each games he plays (6000 if he starts). His agent isn't satisfied with this offer.

KTV is by far the best and most reliable Kosovan TV, but when it comes to sports it's worse than Daily Mail, so it is quite possible that they are only speculating and I doubt that Adnan would have told them the exact offer he has received from United. On the other side, I haven't read those figures anywhere else, so there might be something on that.

Edit: A week ago they said that Adnan has asked for 100k/week which is completely retarded and I don't believe that there is any possibility that this can be true.
 
So, according to KTV, United have offered 15k weekly wage, with 1200 extra pounds for each games he plays (6000 if he starts). His agent isn't satisfied with this offer.

KTV is by far the best and most reliable Kosovan TV, but when it comes to sports it's worse than Daily Mail, so it is quite possible that they are only speculating and I doubt that Adnan would have told them the exact offer he has received from United. On the other side, I haven't read those figures anywhere else, so there might be something on that.

Edit: A week ago they said that Adnan has asked for 100k/week which is completely retarded and I don't believe that there is any possibility that this can be true.

Woody is doing his thing again isn't he?!

I would have thought 20k would surely be the minimum to do a deal. Of course, this may all be speculation as you said.
 
So, according to KTV, United have offered 15k weekly wage, with 1200 extra pounds for each games he plays (6000 if he starts). His agent isn't satisfied with this offer.

KTV is by far the best and most reliable Kosovan TV, but when it comes to sports it's worse than Daily Mail, so it is quite possible that they are only speculating and I doubt that Adnan would have told them the exact offer he has received from United. On the other side, I haven't read those figures anywhere else, so there might be something on that.

Edit: A week ago they said that Adnan has asked for 100k/week which is completely retarded and I don't believe that there is any possibility that this can be true.


:lol:
 
Yeah, or maybe he's planning on becoming the first ever player "bought" by an international team :lol:

That would be scandalous.

I doubt he'd be the first. Qatar have been 'signing players' since more than a decade I think.
 
He could have asked to be on what Young is :lol: That would be hilarious (not for us, of course).


I don't know how we'll ever sign or renew a player's contract again. By B82REZ's logic if we offer Januzaj more than our other youth players they will all kick up a huge fuss, demanding the same amount. No doubt the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are going to be quitting in disgust if we don't offer them the same amount as Ashley Young gets.
 
I don't know how we'll ever sign or renew a player's contract again. By B82REZ's logic if we offer Januzaj more than our other youth players they will all kick up a huge fuss, demanding the same amount. No doubt the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are going to be quitting in disgust if we don't offer them the same amount as Ashley Young gets.

My comment was only a joke. Of course, using Young example for wages makes that much sense as using his transfer fee (or Carroll's, Downing etc) when it comes to transfer fees.

Saying that, I think that if it is neccesarily we should go to 30-50k per week. I am sure that if we sign a great talent (like Oliver Torres or Ross Barkley for example) no-one here would have been complaining about giving it 50k wages. But this doesn't seems the case for our players (and in fact I think that this is everywhere, usually clubs tend to pay more money to new signings than to academy players). But if Adnan gets an offer of (let's say) 50k from an another club and he says that he'll stay with us only if we match it, I hope we do that. If we cannot compete with other clubs when it comes to transfers and wages for star players, I hope that at-least we will compete when it comes to talented youngsters.
 
My comment was only a joke. Of course, using Young example for wages makes that much sense as using his transfer fee (or Carroll's, Downing etc) when it comes to transfer fees.

Saying that, I think that if it is neccesarily we should go to 30-50k per week. I am sure that if we sign a great talent (like Oliver Torres for example) no-one here would have been complaining about giving it 50k wages. But this doesn't seems the case for our players (and in fact I think that this is everywhere, usually clubs tend to pay more money to new signings than to academy players). But if Adnan gets an offer of (let's say) 50k from an another club and he says that he'll stay with us only if we match it, I hope we do that. If we cannot compete with other clubs when it comes to transfers and wages for star players, I hope that at-least we will compete when it comes to talented youngsters.


Yep we just have to pay what it takes to keep him. I think if it's not sorted by Christmas it will be too late.
 
The longer this goes on the more nervous I'm becoming. This should have been wrapped up by now.
 
Considering what a number of unnecessary players in our squad are probably being paid, I don't think there is much reason to penny pinch on this.

He's currently the most hotly tipped youngster around. I don't even think that's an exaggeration. Every day, there is a story on Adnan, either with his contract or his international career. He's hot property. You just can't scrimp to keep hold of someone so talented. If we really believe in him, which we should, then we just have to pay what it takes.

As has been mentioned, if we signed an exciting young player from another club, we'd probably be offering them a competitive wage, so the same should apply from the promoted youngsters as well. Afterall, whilst he is our player now, we are still in direct competition with other clubs to sign him.
 
Seriously if he keep up his performance and play 20 more games this season, he will be worth like 100k per week. But if we wait longer we might loss him cheaply.
 
The model which apply to most youngsters may not apply here - that's the problem. We have given many up and coming lads - like Welbeck and Cleverley - modest contracts at first, whilst no doubt assuring them that these will be replaced with far more lucrative deals once they have proved themselves properly. It's a very fair model, nobody would deny that, I think. But Juventus and Milan and City (and who knows else) weren't drooling over Welbeck and Cleverley. Therein lies the difference. The market has changed since the days when the Fledglings came through the ranks - mere prospects are hot commodities these days. I fear that we can't insist on certain principles if we are to keep hold of sought-after talents. And I really think we should do the latter: It has been a trademark of the club in the past. Stick with that as a principle - but alter the approach somewhat to go with the times.
 
Seriously if he keep up his performance and play 20 more games this season, he will be worth like 100k per week. But if we wait longer we might loss him cheaply.

I imagine that his agents are delaying things for a similar reason. They know that Moyes has to play the boy regularly if he wants to persuade him to stay, and the more games he gets, the higher the wage he can demand. So the longer his agents delay things, the stronger their bargaining position becomes.
 
It's a thoroughly frustrating situation that we have here. On the one hand, it seems that he's not going to commit any time soon because he is trying to improve his bargaining position by seeing what other clubs come in with. To add insult to injury, it's extremely unlikely that he'll stay once he starts talking to other clubs.

Am I wrong in thinking that? Because if not, we can say right now that it's unlikely he'll be staying. In hindsight his Sunderland performance was a poisoned chalice for us.
 
The model which apply to most youngsters may not apply here - that's the problem. We have given many up and coming lads - like Welbeck and Cleverley - modest contracts at first, whilst no doubt assuring them that these will be replaced with far more lucrative deals once they have proved themselves properly. It's a very fair model, nobody would deny that, I think. But Juventus and Milan and City (and who knows else) weren't drooling over Welbeck and Cleverley. Therein lies the difference. The market has changed since the days when the Fledglings came through the ranks - mere prospects are hot commodities these days. I fear that we can't insist on certain principles if we are to keep hold of sought-after talents. And I really think we should do the latter: It has been a trademark of the club in the past. Stick with that as a principle - but alter the approach somewhat to go with the times.

The even more obvious difference is that if he waits a few months he'll be able to get a much better contract elsewhere, and he knows it. With the others we've renewed well prior to their contracts expiring, as we knew what we had and their roles in the squad were reasonably apparent. It's different here. Had he stayed in the reserves and not shone on tour we'd probably have renewed by now with little fuss. As it is he's kicked on and now we've been caught out with less than a year on his deal, so our position is weakened further.

I think he'll stay, but equally I wouldn't be at all surprised if he already has a provisional deal done somewhere else that he'll take up if we don't give him what he wants.
 
Am I wrong in thinking that? Because if not, we can say right now that it's unlikely he'll be staying. In hindsight his Sunderland performance was a poisoned chalice for us.

Not really. Right now we don't know for sure how likely we are to keep him, but if one thing was certain to make him leave it was not playing him.

It's entirely possible that the intention all along has been to stay but that his agents are playing hardball over all the contract nitty-gritty.
 
The even more obvious difference is that if he waits a few months he'll be able to get a much better contract elsewhere, and he knows it. With the others we've renewed well prior to their contracts expiring, as we knew what we had and their roles in the squad were reasonably apparent. It's different here. Had he stayed in the reserves and not shone on tour we'd probably have renewed by now with little fuss. As it is he's kicked on and now we've been caught out with less than a year on his deal, so our position is weakened further.

I think he'll stay, but equally I wouldn't be at all surprised if he already has a provisional deal done somewhere else that he'll take up if we don't give him what he wants.

Indeed - and that is the normal state of affairs, after all. For me the idea of setting a dangerous precedent here is unfounded: Most youngsters will not shine brightly enough at such an early stage - and thus won't be in a position to demand anything out of the ordinary. If we end up offering the lad a big contract - well, so be it: If that's what it takes, that's what we should do if we really believe he is the next big thing. From a business perspective it will still be a lot cheaper than bringing top class talent in from outside. And that's what we have to do sooner or later if a) we refuse to play ball with young players who are interesting to our rivals and b) intend to remain a top club. You need top class talents to remain a top club. If you can't bring them up from your own ranks - you need to buy 'em. It's frighteningly simple from a certain perspective.
 
Don't know. But it seems a lot of hassle for nothing if they continue to develop no rapport with the club and threaten to leave at the first opportunity they get. Rafael is the only success of this policy so far.

So we've lost Pogba who, had he stayed, would have been world class for us. That said, that issue wasn't as clear cut as people are making out. The fact that he's already being heavily linked with leaving Juve tells its own story. We let Morrisson go for obvious reasons. We don't know what's going on with Januzaj. Beyond that all I see is the normal cycle of young players either making it or moving on. Most players don't make it, that's just a fact of youth development. Likewise with the increasing power agents have in the game players are going to move on much more. I can't imagine why we'd rip up a policy which has yielded talent like Rafael, Pogba and Januzaj. How many teams in the world can claim to have brought through three players as good in that time?
 
I can see the reason for the panic but we do have one advantage in that he is already settled and comfortable at the club. He is familiar with Manchester having lived there for years, he presumably has friends at the club. It's the devil he knows. As long as the money we offer him is broadly in line with what he could get elsewhere, hopefully he wont want to uproot and move to London or wherever - even to City where the whole atmosphere of the club would be different. Its not like he is a seasoned pro looking for a new challenge, or things have got stale for him. He is already at a top club with an international profile, which plays in the CL every year. So I reckon he will want to stay, we just need to make it possible by giving him an offer that is in line with market value.
 
Hypothetically, if he signs for another team, should we give up our policy of getting these talented youngsters from abroad to our academy?
Yes. There is no point of signing them if we can't keep them when they become ready for the first team. Pique, Pogba and Januzaj are the only players who came from our academy and had/have potential to become world class players. But if we lose the third one too, then we should change something.

Edit: Forgot Rafael, the only good example of the policy 'till now.
 
Yes. There is no point of signing them if we can't keep them when they become ready for the first team. Pique, Pogba and Januzaj are the only players who came from our academy and had/have potential to become world class players. But if we lose the third one too, then we should change something.

Well, there are none in the current batch of U18s. We didn't make the usual one or two foreign additions this summer - partly, I expect, because of the new management team coming in, and partly because the latest generation are already looking just as good as the last without any foreign kids coming in.
 
Well, there are none in the current batch of U18s. We didn't make the usual one or two foreign additions this summer - partly, I expect, because of the new management team coming in, and partly because the latest generation are already looking just as good as the last without any foreign kids coming in.
Pereira is foreign and he's probably the best in his age range.

Also we signed Varela, while he isn't U18, he was brought for the future.
 
So we've lost Pogba who, had he stayed, would have been world class for us. That said, that issue wasn't as clear cut as people are making out. The fact that he's already being heavily linked with leaving Juve tells its own story. We let Morrisson go for obvious reasons. We don't know what's going on with Januzaj. Beyond that all I see is the normal cycle of young players either making it or moving on. Most players don't make it, that's just a fact of youth development. Likewise with the increasing power agents have in the game players are going to move on much more. I can't imagine why we'd rip up a policy which has yielded talent like Rafael, Pogba and Januzaj. How many teams in the world can claim to have brought through three players as good in that time?

In my opinion either change the way youth contract renewals are handled for these youngsters or don't bother at all.
 
In my opinion either change the way youth contract renewals are handled for these youngsters or don't bother at all.

Change it to what, though? Pay any player with a bit of potential enormous wages so he doesn't leave? Put them all on well paid six year deals, at which point we'll never be able to shift them and we'll end up with a 55 man squad?

We've made a couple of errors in the past few years, yeah, but what's required is a bit of tweaking and a clear head. You don't throw away a successful system because it's working so well other people nick your players.
 
It does seem a bit pointless bringing these gifted kids through if we cant keep hold of them. Id say the policy should stay the same, in as much as we bring in kids and develop them. We just have to accept we have to pay up if and when they make it. And the job of the manager is to determine when the market is pricing a young player accurately, and when it is inflated. If someone offers Janujaz a wage that is far beyond how good he actually is, then we let him go. But it is naive to think as long as you get kids young enough you arent going to have to pay for them. It will still be cheaper to get them young, but not as much cheaper as senior management might have hoped. We may avoid the big signing on fees but we still have to pay the wages these kids would command in the global market.
 
Looking at the grand scheme of things, we should offer him a contract he could not refuse. Whatever he asked give him 10k more (30k-40k), don't give him time to even think, and don't let other clubs having chance to offer him a better contract. Make him feel important here, and secure him for 5 more years first. After that, if he happened to turn into world class 30m type of player, we don't have to worry about losing him on cheap anymore.
 
I bet his father has based his negotiations on Young...."if he can get £100k plus then surely my son should get the same if not more".
 
Looking at the grand scheme of things, we should offer him a contract he could not refuse. Whatever he asked give him 10k more (30k-40k), don't give him time to even think, and don't let other clubs having chance to offer him a better contract. Make him feel important here, and secure him for 5 more years first. After that, if he happened to turn into world class 30m type of player, we don't have to worry about losing him on cheap anymore.

I think this is what Brophs is highlighting as the danger. Do we do that with just Januzaj, or every talented youngster that comes through? Because if we act that way as a matter of policy we are going to end up with a very large and expensive squad indeed. That is no way to run the club IMO.
 
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