Yes and no to this, from a United perspective. Amad and Pellistri are really different types of signings. Pellistri is very similar to how Arsenal signed Martinelli, approximately 6m for each at 18 years old. Amad is in another bracket, having cost an initial 17m, but was seen as a special talent having already broken into the Atalanta first team.
Other than that, the only significant outlays for youth players in recent memory are: Kambwala, 3m incl. add-ons at 16, Hannibal 5m euros initial at 17, and Garnacho 420k at 15. They’ve always scoured the continent to try and pick up good talent from other academies and compensation fees are often involved. It’s how we got players like Jurado and Alvaro recently, and Rossi and Pique historically. We also do the same with other academies around the country, as all the top teams do. As well as attempting to hoover up the best young local talents.
What’s really phenomenal about United is the pathway offered to these players at such a massive club, and the quality of youth development going on. It’s one of the bright spots in an otherwise bleak landscape over the last decade.
If it wasn’t for off the field issues, United could easily be lining up with a hugely promising front three all from the academy. Two of whom are local lads (Rashford, Garnacho and Greenwood). There isn’t another big club around that can say anything like that. It seems right now that we are getting a new major talent coming through and being integrated every 1-2 seasons, which is frankly ridiculous. We’ve had Mainoo, Garnacho and Greenwood alone in the last four years, all of whom could, should or are starting players.
United’s philosophy with young players seems to be to integrate them and give them the time to prove their quality and worth to the squad. To properly assess their adaptation to men’s football. It’s an approach that works well in terms of bringing actual usable talent into the first team squad - a reason why we hold the frankly preposterous record we do on having an academy graduate in the squad for every match day for more than 85 years without a single break. But it’s not the best for generating profit through sales.
Other clubs sell players based on their potential promise. Buying teams taking a gamble on a potentially big talent, who hadn’t yet made the full transition to men’s football. They get top dollar as a result, because the promise is seemingly limitless. United, however, either develop a player into the squad who is good enough to stay and contribute, or eventually decide that he is best moved on, at which point the promise is very much limited and exposed to potential buyers, and the profits aren’t as good. This latter part has been the case for players like Garner, Alvaro and Kambwala recently, and will be for Hannibal soon enough. In the grand scheme of things though, I want us to develop young players for our team, not to turn a profit. The profit part is just a nice bonus when a player doesn’t meet the grade, but to focus on that defies a genuine mission to develop homegrown talent for the first team squad.
There are more huge talents coming through over the next 2-3 years. The U18s are absolutely stacked, and I would imagine at least one of those is going to turn out to be a star, and maybe a couple more will become good squad players. Which would be frankly, another amazing outcome. This season it looks like Collyer will get some proper minutes. This after signing from Brighton a couple of years ago as an 18 year old. He’s a player that moved from another highly rated academy, has struggled with some injuries, and has been decent for the u23s, without setting the world alight. Yet here he is, being given some real opportunities as part of the squad in pre-season, much like Mainoo, McTominay and others before him.
I’d imagine potential recruits seeing these examples, and the real pathways and dedication from the club to give young players opportunities, and thinking that United is the right place for them. Even the players who decide to leave because they can’t kick on and find a way into the first team squad picture, go on to have great careers elsewhere. And a lot of that is not just talent, but also how the club trains its players. I can’t remember who it was (someone will chime in) but recently a well respected coach was talking about his experiences of taking young players on loan, and development internships, from Premier League clubs, and he said that you could always tell the United players apart. They were just different, in terms of their professionalism, dedication, emotional intelligence etc. And it’s a testament to the emphasis the club has been putting on youth for nearly a century.
People will always look to boil things down to money. Fair enough. Money makes the world go round, and who is going to deny it’s a factor? Not me. But what United offer through their academy goes so far beyond the appeal of money. They may not turn a player into a Manchester United player, but they will almost certainly turn you into a premier league or top division player.
