Charlie McNeill | on loan to Stevenage

He looks like a talent and he is a Utd fan, perfect combination.
 
I am sure the next vids we see of him doing the business in a Utd shirt will be of better quality.
 
Currently there is only one forward in U-23, D'Mani. And there is no need to have him here, we should loan him or just let go.
Pretty confident Elanga and Hoogewerf will start for U-23. Maybe they will also push Emeran, though he has not even played for U-18. But he's already 17 and will be 18 in September. Elanga(LW)-Hoogewerf-Emeran(RW) works out nicely.
This leaves U-18 with Shoretire, Sotona, Mejia, Hugill, McNeil (?). Maybe Mejia will be also pushed for U-23.

There's no way we will push Emeran to the U23s yet. We also have Wellens/Forson on the wing.
 
From the YT vid he looks fantastic in the build up with really good awareness and vision. A playmaking forward who is two footed with a hammer of a shot.

That panenka penalty.. :drool:

Reminds me a bit of Will Keane in the buildup
 
Him and Shoretire with Aaoren behinds them definitely sounds very exciting for the 18s next season.
 
Interesting that for a 600-goal striker, the video wasn't full of his goals.
Ha, was going to say the same thing if someone hadn’t already. Very last post before I had the chance. Lots of near misses I didn’t think needed to be added as there was nothing special in getting the shot off and 600+ scores to choose from.

I do like how the ball jumps off his foot when taking a shot, with minimal effort at that.
 
Ha, was going to say the same thing if someone hadn’t already. Very last post before I had the chance. Lots of near misses I didn’t think needed to be added as there was nothing special in getting the shot off and 600+ scores to choose from.

I do like how the ball jumps off his foot when taking a shot, with minimal effort at that.

So a 60goal academy striker then. Must be some joke or typo that he's a 600 goal striker. Not sure that's possible unless they liberally rounded up his academy tally.
 
Interesting that for a 600-goal striker, the video wasn't full of his goals.

Because there are not a lot of videos for u15 matches obviously.

According to Bluemoon, McNeill scored 110 goals and 38 assists in 72 games for City U15s and England U16s in one season.
 
I'm sure you could find them (footage of goals), you just have to search for youth tournaments online and know which one is Mcneill. Important to keep in mind you can get a lot of goals in these tournaments as there are multiple matches within a short period.
 
Facilities and life experience has been fantastic. Coaching is very poor, still stuck in the dark ages unfortunately, However, things do seem to changing, albeit very slowly.

This is pretty surprising to me. We've produced more PL players than any academy in England over the last decade. 2 of our currently lethal front 3 are recent graduates from the academy. Most who come through seem very polished and ready.

How do they manage it with coaching from the dark ages? I'm not arguing with you by the way. I have no idea what the coaching is like there. It just seems strange that they produce so much quality with crap coaching.
 
This is pretty surprising to me. We've produced more PL players than any academy in England over the last decade. 2 of our currently lethal front 3 are recent graduates from the academy. Most who come through seem very polished and ready.

How do they manage it with coaching from the dark ages? I'm not arguing with you by the way. I have no idea what the coaching is like there. It just seems strange that they produce so much quality with crap coaching.
I'm not trying to condescend you here, but who was the last player to come from our academy and play regularly in the PL whos signer for another team permanently? Someone like Oli Norwood at Sheff Utd?
 
I'm not trying to condescend you here, but who was the last player to come from our academy and play regularly in the PL whos signer for another team permanently? Someone like Oli Norwood at Sheff Utd?

Michael Keane at Everton, also an England international. Dwight McNeil at Burnley (although he was released by United), Tom Heaton at Villa.
 
I'm not trying to condescend you here, but who was the last player to come from our academy and play regularly in the PL whos signer for another team permanently? Someone like Oli Norwood at Sheff Utd?

Josh King is one and he's even linked with a transfer back to United. With that said, does it matter if players sign for another team permanently? The academy has recently produced Rashford, Greenwood, McTominay, Brandon Williams and Tuanzebe (when he's healthy) who are all first team players. The first two names on that list are both going to be in the England squad at the next world cup, if not starting (barring injury of course). Dean Henderson is England's future #1. That is impressive regardless of whether the current coaching is poor or not and many millions of pounds saved, which is what the academy should primarily be about.
 
Danny Drinkwater, Robbie Brady,
Michael Keane at Everton, also an England international. Dwight McNeil at Burnley (although he was released by United), Tom Heaton at Villa.

Dean Henderson, Danny Drinkwater, Matt James, Robbie Brady, Corry Evans, James Chester, Ryan Shawcross, Josh King, Phil Bardsley, Danny Simpson

Tom Lawrence didnt succeed in the P.L yet but has done really well in the Championship, same with Ben Pearson and Joe Rothwell

Gollini and Zieler succeeded in Italy and Germany respectively

So when people say that our coaching is well behind everyone else - I simply don't believe them. It probably can improve a lot, yes - but if it was that poor - we would never create more Championship and P.L-player than everyone else - by a mile.
 
Danny Drinkwater, Robbie Brady,


Dean Henderson, Danny Drinkwater, Matt James, Robbie Brady, Corry Evans, James Chester, Ryan Shawcross, Josh King, Phil Bardsley, Danny Simpson

Tom Lawrence didnt succeed in the P.L yet but has done really well in the Championship, same with Ben Pearson and Joe Rothwell

Gollini and Zieler succeeded in Italy and Germany respectively

So when people say that our coaching is well behind everyone else - I simply don't believe them. It probably can improve a lot, yes - but if it was that poor - we would never create more Championship and P.L-player than everyone else - by a mile.

It's very little to do with coaching and more to do with recruiting, identifying talent and unlocking potential. You simply can't take an average player and coach him into a pro. City have been aggressive in their recruitment over the past few years and you can now start to see the results, regarding the players they are churning out to other leagues.
 
It's very little to do with coaching and more to do with recruiting, identifying talent and unlocking potential. You simply can't take an average player and coach him into a pro. City have been aggressive in their recruitment over the past few years and you can now start to see the results, regarding the players they are churning out to other leagues.

What you are saying doesnt make sense - if we find big talents at the age of 12-13-14 years - and are really poor at coaching, these players will not reach the P.L - simply because there are players almost as good who with proper coaching will be better.
 
It's very little to do with coaching and more to do with recruiting, identifying talent and unlocking potential. You simply can't take an average player and coach him into a pro. City have been aggressive in their recruitment over the past few years and you can now start to see the results, regarding the players they are churning out to other leagues.

But surely coaching has a lot to do with unlocking potential?
You say City have been aggressive and are starting to see results...
Really, better than 'stone age' United?

Stoneage FC U23s
Henderson
Laird - Tuanzebe - Mengi - Williams
Garner - McTominay
Chong - Mejbri - Rashford
Greenwood​
 
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I don't see the point of you guys arguing with @Beaucoup. He has actually seen the coaching first hand and he believes it could be better. It's not like he is saying we are the worst. In his opinion it could and should be better. And also not like he is saying all the coaches suck. I don't see how Rashford and Greenwood are evidence he is wrong. If they are brilliant talents they would make it anyway despite some coaching not being so great. Maybe if we had better coaching at lower level we could do even better?

My point is he may be wrong he may be right. But it's hard to argue without actually us also seeing what he is talking about.
 
What you are saying doesnt make sense - if we find big talents at the age of 12-13-14 years - and are really poor at coaching, these players will not reach the P.L - simply because there are players almost as good who with proper coaching will be better.

It's a numbers game, nothing to do with fantastic coaching.