Pogue Mahone
Closet Gooner.
United starlets chasing glory
As England prepare for Fabio Capello's era, Manchester United are hoping their own Italian influence can steer them to FA Youth Cup glory.
In Giuseppe Rossi and Gerard Pique, United have already shown overseas recruitment in young talent can be beneficial at first-team level.
And Italy Under-18 international Federico Macheda is the latest arrival from Europe to impress in the Red Devils junior ranks.
Macheda has struck up an impressive strike partnership with highly-rated local boy Danny Welbeck and is already earning comparisons in style with Tottenham forward and reported United target Dimitar Berbatov.
And academy chief Paul McGuinness is hoping the former Lazio player can have a major impact at Northwich on Wednesday when his side look to reach the last 16 of this season's Youth Cup by beating Carlisle.
"Federico is a very good technical player," said McGuinness. "He is a real Italian striker. He might not look as if he is doing much but when he gets it, his touch is very good and he makes good decisions.
"In some ways he has a style of Berbatov. He makes some very clever runs and is a very good finisher.
"He has fitted into the club very well and is on a really good wavelength with Danny Welbeck.
"People who watch the first team will be aware of how well Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez link up. These two young lads are capable of similar sorts of combinations."
In the year United will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, it is not only Sir Alex Ferguson's senior squad that finds itself looking to lift some appropriate silverware.
There could actually be no more fitting triumph than the Youth Cup given that Sir Matt Busby's 'Babes' won the competition in the first five years of its existence.
"There is a pressure that comes purely from representing Manchester United," McGuinness said. "They carry that every game but particularly in the Youth Cup because we have such a rich history in the competition.
"They really are following in the footsteps of all the greats. But that is the way you want it."
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/252355334?-11193&Session=_iqAxeu0leSpe2M1cfEhJLenzO-
As England prepare for Fabio Capello's era, Manchester United are hoping their own Italian influence can steer them to FA Youth Cup glory.
In Giuseppe Rossi and Gerard Pique, United have already shown overseas recruitment in young talent can be beneficial at first-team level.
And Italy Under-18 international Federico Macheda is the latest arrival from Europe to impress in the Red Devils junior ranks.
Macheda has struck up an impressive strike partnership with highly-rated local boy Danny Welbeck and is already earning comparisons in style with Tottenham forward and reported United target Dimitar Berbatov.
And academy chief Paul McGuinness is hoping the former Lazio player can have a major impact at Northwich on Wednesday when his side look to reach the last 16 of this season's Youth Cup by beating Carlisle.
"Federico is a very good technical player," said McGuinness. "He is a real Italian striker. He might not look as if he is doing much but when he gets it, his touch is very good and he makes good decisions.
"In some ways he has a style of Berbatov. He makes some very clever runs and is a very good finisher.
"He has fitted into the club very well and is on a really good wavelength with Danny Welbeck.
"People who watch the first team will be aware of how well Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez link up. These two young lads are capable of similar sorts of combinations."
In the year United will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, it is not only Sir Alex Ferguson's senior squad that finds itself looking to lift some appropriate silverware.
There could actually be no more fitting triumph than the Youth Cup given that Sir Matt Busby's 'Babes' won the competition in the first five years of its existence.
"There is a pressure that comes purely from representing Manchester United," McGuinness said. "They carry that every game but particularly in the Youth Cup because we have such a rich history in the competition.
"They really are following in the footsteps of all the greats. But that is the way you want it."
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/252355334?-11193&Session=_iqAxeu0leSpe2M1cfEhJLenzO-