Everyone moans about us not signing the best players around, but that's not what we do. We get talent or just plain old good players who we believe can make the step up.
Did anyone expect Carrick, Valencia or Smalling to be so good here when we got them? I certainly didn't.
He is a very good case in point. Admittedly, I'd only ever seen him play when he played against us and even then, I was not looking out for him so did not notice him. And so I was 'underwhelmed' when the rumors started and he eventually signed for us. However, the speed with which he has upped the gears to a higher level of consistent performance has been amazing, and to see him 'adjust to the United way' literally week by week, so that by the end of last season, not only was he performing 100% better than when he joined, bJut also was completely in sync with the needs of the team has been joy to observe.
Carrick came with higher credentials but followed a similar trajectory. Vidic, Evra, and at a more delayed pace, Nani demonstrated similar journeys. And I expect the same of Jones, Hernandez, Young, de Gea, Smalling, Fabio and Rafael. Of course, the likes of Evans and Welbeck already have the club philosophy ground into them as did Fletcher.
Put simply, more often than not, the club has an amazing ability at spotting latent emerging talent with the right personality and values. And when we get these sorts of players into the club, from the first day the culture and atmosphere of the club, the influence of senior players and the University of Carrington all kicks in union and 'factory like' produces 'Manchester United' players.
Thats a lot of the enjoyment and satisfaction I get from following our club. I like seeing a player develop and fulfill his talent over time. I don't think I'd enjoy as fully developed players like Kaka or Van Persie joining as much.
Thats not to say Im adverse to a fully developed player joining; by definition, not all planning can be successful and then you have the uncontrollable boomerangs like Fletcher getting a limiting medical condition or Ronaldo leaving for a world record fee. So you do sometimes need instant solutions.
But as was pointed out above, in the summer of 2007, Chavski, already having won the league 2 years on the trot and having a fearsome side who had just broken the PL points in a season record, then strengthened that squad with Shevchenko, Ballack, Ashley Cole and Obi Mikel .... while we bought only Michael Carrick .... and we ended up winning the league comfortably by 6 points. And that was because SAF had built a team of young players centered around Ferdinand, Vidic, Ronaldo & Rooney and the planning all came together perfectly to form the basis of probably SAFs most successful and strongest team over the next 3 years til 2011.
I'd rather we do that now, and am confident we have the basis of a very strong team for the next 5 years, its just one more year away and 2 new players for the jigsaw to fully cement itself together, much like 2007/8.
