Homegrown players

Walrus

Oppressed White Male
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
11,206
A big part of the culture of Man Utd has always been using the academy, and having a squad core of homegrown talents. In a practical sense, this is also really useful when it comes to the PL and UEFA homegrown player rules (specifically, you can only have 17 over-21, foreign players in your squad, the other 8 spots can only be filled by homegrown players).

A concerning trend over the last several years - not just at United mind - has been our seeming willingness to sell off (or practically give away) homegrown players, and instead bringing in players from abroad. Dont get me wrong - I dont think we should be keeping loads of average players on the books just for the sake of it, but equally if you have homegrown options that can add to squad depth, it helps you a lot over the course of the season.

Look at the players we have sold, or looked to sell - or who are being rumoured as possible outgoings;
Maguire
Evans
AWB
Shaw
McTominay
Mount
Sancho
Rashford

We sold Kambwala who wouldve qualified as homegrown, having just broken into the first team (understanding there were contract issues).

Realistically, the only HG players not at risk (or already gone) are Mainoo and Garnacho, who are U21 anyway so dont need to be registered. You could also point to the likes of Greenwood and say we got unlucky there.

Point is, as things stand - maybe not this year but next - we are going to have to end up with a <25-man senior squad due to a lack of homegrown talents. It also arguably represents an erosion of the clubs longstanding culture - so is undesirable both on and off the field.
 
Would Yoro count in a few years? I think it is something they do have in mind, like pcaming said with the pursuit of Branthwaite.

We're already at the situation where there'll be less than 8 homegrown players registered in the 25-man squad: Evans, Heaton, Maguire, Mount, Rashford and Shaw - maybe Sancho if the move to Chelsea falls through. That is balanced out by Garnacho and Mainoo being first teamers but still can be registered as U21.
 
Walrus said:
A big part of the culture of Man Utd has always been using the academy, and having a squad core of homegrown talents. In a practical sense, this is also really useful when it comes to the PL and UEFA homegrown player rules (specifically, you can only have 17 over-21, foreign players in your squad, the other 8 spots can only be filled by homegrown players).

A concerning trend over the last several years - not just at United mind - has been our seeming willingness to sell off (or practically give away) homegrown players, and instead bringing in players from abroad. Dont get me wrong - I dont think we should be keeping loads of average players on the books just for the sake of it, but equally if you have homegrown options that can add to squad depth, it helps you a lot over the course of the season.

Look at the players we have sold, or looked to sell - or who are being rumoured as possible outgoings;
Maguire
Evans
AWB
Shaw
McTominay
Mount
Sancho
Rashford

We sold Kambwala who wouldve qualified as homegrown, having just broken into the first team (understanding there were contract issues).

Realistically, the only HG players not at risk (or already gone) are Mainoo and Garnacho, who are U21 anyway so dont need to be registered. You could also point to the likes of Greenwood and say we got unlucky there.

Point is, as things stand - maybe not this year but next - we are going to have to end up with a <25-man senior squad due to a lack of homegrown talents. It also arguably represents an erosion of the clubs longstanding culture - so is undesirable both on and off the field.
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This is all due to PSR rules and it’s bullshit.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
This is all due to PSR rules and it’s bullshit.
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I don’t buy that. Clubs never had a problem spending money beforehand, and plenty of clubs still don’t. With our commercial revenues, United should be one of the least concerned clubs with PSR in the league. Frankly just because Chelsea are trailblazing in finding loopholes and dodgy advantages, doesn’t mean we should be following suit.
 
I don't think this is the problem you're suggesting it is. We still have a lot of homegrown players on the books, and you're forgetting we've also signed a number of young players this season (Yoro, Kone, and the young lad from Arsenal) who will count as home grown in a few years. I expect that trend will continue and we'll be fine.
 
Walrus said:
I don’t buy that. Clubs never had a problem spending money beforehand, and plenty of clubs still don’t. With our commercial revenues, United should be one of the least concerned clubs with PSR in the league. Frankly just because Chelsea are trailblazing in finding loopholes and dodgy advantages, doesn’t mean we should be following suit.
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It is what it is. Selling homegrown players is pure profit that can be used to fill important gaps in the squad. We’d be negligent to not do what we’re doing. It still sucks though.
 
Damien said:
Would Yoro count in a few years? I think it is something they do have in mind, like pcaming said with the pursuit of Branthwaite.
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Yes he is on course to count. Basically any player that joins before their 19th birthday will become HG. This gets disrupted if loaned abroad, but the 3 required years counts accumulatively.
 
PSV said:
Yes he is on course to count. Basically any player that joins before their 19th birthday will become HG. This gets disrupted if loaned abroad, but the 3 required years counts accumulatively.
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Are you sure? I thought it was 3 years registered before their 21st birthday.

So they'd need to join before their 18th birthday to count as homegrown?
 
Isn't the rule a maximum 17 non-home-grown players age 21 or over?
Zirkzee, Hojlund, Bruno, Amad, Antony, Eriksen, Casemiro, Ugarte, Malacia, Lindelof, Martinez, De Ligt, Mazraoui, Dalot, Onana, Altay. That's 16. Anyone else?

Also can see several of these leaving next summer.
 
Dominos said:
Are you sure? I thought it was 3 years registered before their 21st birthday.

So they'd need to join before their 18th birthday to count as homegrown?
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I believe it's 3 years before the end of the season in which the player turns 21. Ronaldo, for example, used to count as homegrown despite joining several months after he turned 18.
 
Dominos said:
Are you sure? I thought it was 3 years registered before their 21st birthday.

So they'd need to join before their 18th birthday to count as homegrown?
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My understanding is that it runs through the player's entire 21st year and stops counting the day they turn 22.
 
Big part of the culture is to win, don't care who the players are as long as we win. Obviously having academy players is the cherry top but nothing more than it.
 
Mr Smith said:
I don't think this is the problem you're suggesting it is. We still have a lot of homegrown players on the books, and you're forgetting we've also signed a number of young players this season (Yoro, Kone, and the young lad from Arsenal) who will count as home grown in a few years. I expect that trend will continue and we'll be fine.
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Came in to say pretty much this. We're still looking at young players and I think the success of the likes of Mainoo and Garnacho will mean we put an emphasis on developing younger players.

I'm not overly concerned about this at this point. However, I am concerned about how we keep our players fit, and how we develop them into becoming world class talents. Helping them take that step from being good players and elevating them to that great/world class level. In my mind, if we are able to show that we can do this, we're going to further attract younger players to the club, as they'll know it's a place where they can reach their potential.
 
Dominos said:
Are you sure? I thought it was 3 years registered before their 21st birthday.

So they'd need to join before their 18th birthday to count as homegrown?
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You're not allowed to leave clubs from, or join clubs in certain countries until your 18th birthday depending on local laws. They make it from 18th birth year to 21st birth year because of this. Otherwise you'd be out of luck if your birthday fell outside of a transfer window.
 
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