[BennyBlanco]

Anyone who's watched him for the academy and then this last season or two with the step up isn't really surprised that he made a goal scoring start! I swear I was expecting it even!, this kid is just a confident natural finisher, it doesn't matter if the chance is in the reserves or champions league final, he'll just put it away.
Hopefully he can kick on from here, I really like a few in our youth coming through.

 

[ScarleyUtd]

Anyone who's watched him for the academy and then this last season or two with the step up isn't really surprised that he made a goal scoring start! I swear I was expecting it even!, this kid is just a confident natural finisher, it doesn't matter if the chance is in the reserves or champions league final, he'll just put it away.
Hopefully he can kick on from here, I really like a few in our youth coming through.

Good to hear.

 

[Chaky_Best]

A new Kiko Macheda ? Don't forget that Macheda was also a bright prospect when he scored his WONDERFUL goal (what a joy !!!) and the week later at Sunderland. Then he struggled to make impact on first team.

The same for Giusepp Rossi few years ago, higly regarded but in competition with Van Nistelrooy and Rooney.

So I hope he's a bright as people says but don't put him too high for now... We'll see next season

 

[Raoul]

A new Kiko Macheda ? Don't forget that Macheda was also a bright prospect when he scored his WONDERFUL goal (what a joy !!!) and the week later at Sunderland. Then he struggled to make impact on first team.

The same for Giusepp Rossi few years ago, higly regarded but in competition with Van Nistelrooy and Rooney.

So I hope he's a bright as people says but don't put him too high for now... We'll see next season

I didn't see anything special about Wilson in last night's performance. He took his first goal well and was lucky to be in the right spot for the 2nd. He also missed a good chance early on. Good debut, but nothing to get ridiculously excited about. Let's see how he performs over time.

 

[Ekeke]

A new Kiko Macheda ? Don't forget that Macheda was also a bright prospect when he scored his WONDERFUL goal (what a joy !!!) and the week later at Sunderland. Then he struggled to make impact on first team.

The same for Giusepp Rossi few years ago, higly regarded but in competition with Van Nistelrooy and Rooney.

So I hope he's a bright as people says but don't put him too high for now... We'll see next season

Macheda wasnt even considered our best Italian youngster when he scored his great debut goal. Really what he showed was good finishing and everything else was a bit spotty. James Wilson is an all rounder, has pace, dribbling and can score screamers from outside the box with either foot. Doesnt sound like Macheda does it?

Rossi didnt get enough chances and has shown elsewhere he was more than good enough to make it. Sir Alex said in a few years he'd be in the same category as Rooney and Ronaldo, if he didnt get injured again this season he'd have shown for Italy in the world cup that he's in the same category as one of them.

 

[Sweet Square]

we have some future stars coming through.

Janzaj
Wilson
Lawrence
Pearson
Peraira

I would put Rowell in there as well. That's just from the academy there's still Lingarrd and the Keane brothers as well(Michael was on the bench yesterday as well)

I know the odds are pretty slim that all the players mention will it here at United but I do think this group have a great chance and maybe more importantly I think under Van Gaal they will get chances.

 

[Red Dreams]

I would put Rowell in there as well. That's just from the academy there's still Lingarrd and the Keane brothers as well(Michael was on the bench yesterday as well)

I know the odds are pretty slim that all the players mention will it here at United but I do think this group have a great chance and maybe more importantly I think under Van Gaal they will get chances.

thanks for the info. had not heard of Rowell. heard van Gaal gives kids a chance. I hope most of them will make it. How is Will Keane btw?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I would put Rowell in there as well. That's just from the academy there's still Lingarrd and the Keane brothers as well(Michael was on the bench yesterday as well)

I know the odds are pretty slim that all the players mention will it here at United but I do think this group have a great chance and maybe more importantly I think under Van Gaal they will get chances.

The bastard lovechild of Nick Powell and Joe Rothwell?

 

[Red Dreams]

I didn't see anything special about Wilson in last night's performance. He took his first goal well and was lucky to be in the right spot for the 2nd. He also missed a good chance early on. Good debut, but nothing to get ridiculously excited about. Let's see how he performs over time.

He got into very good position for both goals and missed another opportunity. He has excellent control, speed, power and awareness.

Very exciting performance.

 

[Kaos]

In 3 years time potentially?

------------------------DE GEA---------------------

RAFAEL-------SMALLING-----------JONES------SHAW

---------------KROOS-------CARVALHO/POWELL-----

LINGARD/ZAHA----------JANUZAJ----------LAWRENCE

------------------------WILSON---------------------

And then there's the likes of:
Mata
Kagawa
Welbeck
Rooney
Keane's
Pereira

These predictions never work out, otherwise our team would currently look something like this:


-----------------Foster-------------
-Rafael----Pique-----Evans---Fabio
-------Anderson----Cleverley------
--Nani----------Rooney----------Ronaldo
-----------------Campbell----------

 

[Ekeke]

These predictions never work out, otherwise our team would currently look something like this:


-----------------Foster-------------
-Rafael----Pique-----Evans---Fabio
-------Anderson----Cleverley------
--Nani----------Rooney----------Ronaldo
-----------------Campbell----------
--Nani

Who predicted we'd have 2 Nanis in our first team twelve?

 

[Kaos]

Who predicted we'd have 2 Nanis in our first team twelve?

Dammit, I was too slow to edit that out, knew someone would make that inevitable point.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I wouldn't get too excited yet.

 

[Tooni]

Scoring two goals in his debut last night was just an icing on the cake, the excitement mostly comes from the potential and more importantly the rate of progress he has shown over the last couple of years.

He is not the type of talent that will make you go "wow" often like Adnan or Daehli but I always saw him as an intelligent player in mould of Ole or Muller only with much more pace to burn. He regularly finds a way to get on the score sheets and it's also the variety of goals he scores that's impressive.

 

[Ekeke]

Dammit, I was too slow to edit that out, knew someone would make that inevitable point.

Was close. I agree though, when we make these fantasy 11s or say that "in 2 or 3 years time..." and follow it with something that sounds brilliant, they're rarely ever proven to be correct.

We don't know whats going to happen next week in football let alone in a year or 3

 

[Brightonian]

I didn't see anything special about Wilson in last night's performance. He took his first goal well and was lucky to be in the right spot for the 2nd. He also missed a good chance early on. Good debut, but nothing to get ridiculously excited about. Let's see how he performs over time.

For those who've already seen him 'perform over time', it suggests that all the things that he's shown over his academy and reserves career are valid in predicting how he might do as a first-teamer. In terms of a player who is 'special', above all, because he's such a consistent and lethal goalscorer, a 60-minute brace in your first-team debut is pretty much as good as it gets. If you wanted him to dribble three or four players at a time to show that he's special, you're looking for Januzaj, not Wilson.

Either way, both players have now, as far as the opportunities that they've been given, performed exactly as those who've watched them through the academy ranks would have predicted. The tiresome 'you can't tell anything about a player's chances until they get first-team game-time' attitude so prevalent on here isn't looking very convincing at the moment.

 

[Raoul]

For those who've already seen him 'perform over time', it suggests that all the things that he's shown over his academy and reserves career are valid in predicting how he might do as a first-teamer. In terms of a player who is 'special', above all, because he's such a consistent and lethal goalscorer, a 60-minute brace in your first-team debut is pretty much as good as it gets. If you wanted him to dribble three or four players at a time to show that he's special, you're looking for Januzaj, not Wilson.

Either way, both players have now, as far as the opportunities that they've been given, performed exactly as those who've watched them through the academy ranks would have predicted. The tiresome 'you can't tell anything about a player's chances until they get first-team game-time' attitude so prevalent on here isn't looking very convincing at the moment.

He may or may not make it. It will depend on the new manager, his philosophy, and whether Wilson like any number of talented youth players in recent years, will get squeezed out to another club for lack of first team opportunities because they are playing behind top first team players. As i see it now, Januzaj and Powell are the only two who i see as having a realistic chance of making it.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Great to see him get two goals on his début. What a feeling that must've been. Hope he can continue to progress. Get him on loan to a Championship side and see how he gets on. Looks to have a bright future ahead of him.

 

[Ekeke]

Powell? Wilson has a better chance of making it here and it could definitely be at Powell's expense, given nobody wants to play him anywhere but striker at the moment

 

[Gerald G]

For those who've already seen him 'perform over time', it suggests that all the things that he's shown over his academy and reserves career are valid in predicting how he might do as a first-teamer. In terms of a player who is 'special', above all, because he's such a consistent and lethal goalscorer, a 60-minute brace in your first-team debut is pretty much as good as it gets. If you wanted him to dribble three or four players at a time to show that he's special, you're looking for Januzaj, not Wilson.

Either way, both players have now, as far as the opportunities that they've been given, performed exactly as those who've watched them through the academy ranks would have predicted. The tiresome 'you can't tell anything about a player's chances until they get first-team game-time' attitude so prevalent on here isn't looking very convincing at the moment.

Spot on. Not sure what some were expecting from an 18 year old striker making his debut.

 

[Tooni]

He may or may not make it. It will depend on the new manager, his philosophy, and whether Wilson like any number of talented youth players in recent years, will get squeezed out to another club for lack of first team opportunities because they are playing behind top first team players. As i see it now, Januzaj and Powell are the only two who i see as having a realistic chance of making it.

Just curious, why do you think Powell has a better chance ? He probably has the toughest task with Rooney, Mata, Kagawa & Adnan all competing for that one position that Powell thrives in. I think the only way he could get time in first team is if we decide to play him as a central midfielder but there is not much reason to play him there expect for those two quotes from Gradi and Sir Alex. I don't even think he was convincing when we played him in deeper role during our reserve games sometime last season.

 

[Brightonian]

He may or may not make it. It will depend on the new manager, his philosophy, and whether Wilson like any number of talented youth players in recent years, will get squeezed out to another club for lack of first team opportunities because they are playing behind top first team players. As i see it now, Januzaj and Powell are the only two who i see as having a realistic chance of making it.

Yes, obviously. But you claim you didn't see anything special from Wilson, whereas in fact what he's done is continue the trend which is what makes him special - scoring feckloads of goals with incredible consistency.

Having watched a lot of both now, I rate Wilson's chances significantly higher than Powell's. Putting my opinion about their actual ability aside (because I really don't want to get into an argument about Powell), momentum is really important, and where Wilson has continued to progress rapidly this season, Powell has gone backwards. You can see that he knows it, too - on the pitch for Wigan in the latter half of the season he's looked consistently demotivated and frustrated. To what extent that's because he's had to play so often as a forward is debatable, but the reason doesn't really matter - the fact is that the quality and effectiveness of the football we've seen from him this season has gone badly downhill.

 

[Raoul]

Yes, obviously. But you claim you didn't see anything special from Wilson, whereas in fact what he's done is continue the trend which is what makes him special - scoring feckloads of goals with incredible consistency.

Having watched a lot of both now, I rate Wilson's chances significantly higher than Powell's. Putting my opinion about their actual ability aside (because I really don't want to get into an argument about Powell), momentum is really important, and where Wilson has continued to progress rapidly this season, Powell has gone backwards. You can see that he knows it, too - on the pitch for Wigan in the latter half of the season he's looked consistently demotivated and frustrated. To what extent that's because he's had to play so often as a forward is debatable, but the reason doesn't really matter - the fact is that the quality and effectiveness of the football we've seen from him this season has gone badly downhill.

Fair enough. I hope he makes it, but won't be surprised if he spends a few years knocking in goals in the reserves before moving on to another club for lack of first team chances.

 

[Brightonian]

Spot on. Not sure what some were expecting from an 18 year old striker making his debut.

Exactly. Not only is a debut brace a ridiculously rare achievement, but he also didn't put a foot wrong - never lost the ball, showed his composure on it in tight spaces, and pretty much always did the right thing with it.

If that's not a special debut, then Rooney's debut is probably the only one in the recent history of this club that qualifies!

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Powell? Wilson has a better chance of making it here and it could definitely be at Powell's expense, given nobody wants to play him anywhere but striker at the moment

Strange one that. He did play there or behind the striker for Crewe, but SAF said he feels Powell has the attributes to play as a centre midfielder. He even said he could go onto replace Scholes.

I just hope he's not wasted because from the few performances I've seen in centre midfielder for us, he looked decent.

 

[Brightonian]

Fair enough. I hope he makes it, but won't be surprised if he spends a few years knocking in goals in the reserves before moving on to another club for lack of first team chances.

I agree that's a possibility - always is at a top club - but it won't be down to him if it goes like that.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He may or may not make it. It will depend on the new manager, his philosophy, and whether Wilson like any number of talented youth players in recent years, will get squeezed out to another club for lack of first team opportunities because they are playing behind top first team players. As i see it now, Januzaj and Powell are the only two who i see as having a realistic chance of making it.

Out of interest, why do you think Powell has a better chance of making it than Wilson?

It's obvously a mugs game making predictions about academy players but all you can do is look at players who stand out for their age group and compare them with past players who showed the same gulf in ability between them and their peers. Wilson would be comparable with Rossi, Pogba, Pique, Macheda, Welbeck and Januzaj in this regard. Nothing is guaranteed but those are pretty good odds he'll be a quality player.

 

[Raoul]

Out of interest, why do you think Powell has a better chance of making it than Wilson?

It's obvously a mugs game making predictions about academy players but all you can do is look at players who stand out for their age group and compare them with past players who showed the same gulf in ability between them and their peers. Wilson would be comparable with Rossi, Pogba, Pique, Macheda, Welbeck and Januzaj in this regard. Nothing is guaranteed but those are pretty good odds he'll be a quality player.

Yeah impossible to predict these things and I've seen more of Powell than Wilson, so it may not have been the best comparison. I see Powell as player who with the right manager, has the natural skills to make it. He seems like a natural goal scorer with a deeper intuition and footballing brain than most youngsters I've seen.

 

[Red Dreams]

Powell? Wilson has a better chance of making it here and it could definitely be at Powell's expense, given nobody wants to play him anywhere but striker at the moment

you see...I don't see Powell as a striker at all.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

A new Kiko Macheda ? Don't forget that Macheda was also a bright prospect when he scored his WONDERFUL goal (what a joy !!!) and the week later at Sunderland. Then he struggled to make impact on first team.

The same for Giusepp Rossi few years ago, higly regarded but in competition with Van Nistelrooy and Rooney

Wilson is English and has been at the club since he was nine. There will be a massive desire within the club for him to make it here. He also has that magic Manchester United ingredient that Rossi and Macheda lacked - pace!

Wilson often scores spectacular goals. I was encouraged to see such sharp poacher instincts from him last night. If he was good in the air he would be a complete striker.

Rossi is a fantastic player BTW. He nearly got a transfer to Barcelona a few years back but sadly his career has been blighted by serious injury. Nonetheless, he has still managed 16 goals in 20 games for Fiorentina this season and will probably be seen at the World Cup with a leading nation.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Wilson is English and has been at the club since he was nine. There will be a massive desire within the club for him to make it here. He also has that magic Manchester United ingredient that Rossi and Macheda lacked - pace!

Wilson often scores spectacular goals. I was encouraged to see such sharp poacher instincts from him last night. If he was good in the air he would be a complete striker.

Rossi is a fantastic player BTW. He nearly got a transfer to Barcelona a few years back but sadly his career has been blighted by serious injury. Nonetheless, he has still managed 16 goals in 20 games for Fiorentina this season and will probably be seen at the World Cup with a leading nation.

Didn't the poor little fecker pick up another ACL knack quite recently?

He's a terrific player though. Goal-scoring record speaks for itself. So unlucky with injuries. Could have gone on to become one of the best strikers in the world IMO.

 

[Sweet Square]

The bastard lovechild of Nick Powell and Joe Rothwell?

Yep he'll grow up to be quite the looker

 

[Sir A1ex]

Nonetheless, he has still managed 16 goals in 20 games for Fiorentina this season and will probably be seen at the World Cup with a leading nation.

I thought he was injured again?

 

[mufcwarm92]

I actually agree that despite his goals he wasn't particularly impressive yesterday, certainly when compared to his form for the youth teams. But that can only be a compliment when you've scored 2 goals on your debut - there is certainly more to come from this lad.

 

[Brightonian]

I actually agree that despite his goals he wasn't particularly impressive yesterday, certainly when compared to his form for the youth teams. But that can only be a compliment when you've scored 2 goals on your debut - there is certainly more to come from this lad.

It wasn't really a game where a pacy direct striker was ever going to get a chance to do much more than poach. Hull played with very little ambition, and sat incredibly deep. His best performances for the youth sides have come against teams who leave space in behind the defence for him to run into.

That said, it's not as if he did anything wrong on the ball. Showed his composure, his nice touch and some neat link-up passing.

 

[Sweet Square]

thanks for the info. had not heard of Rowell. heard van Gaal gives kids a chance. I hope most of them will make it. How is Will Keane btw?

Yep I would Rothwell higher than Pearson at the moment(Rothwell was put on the CL squad by Moyes) but that's really just my personal view. As for Will Keane the injury he got in last year(I think) really put him back and then the loan move this season was pointless why anyone at United thought sending him to QPR would be ever be a good idea.

Overall it's hard to know what's next for him but I do hope United stick with him.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

@Pogue @Sir A1ex

Rossi is on the comeback trail and is in the frame for the World Cup. I agree also that he could have been a top 5 striker in the world if he had been more fortunate with injury.

 

[vuc]

This guy reminds me of Alan Shearer. Proper CF, poacher, can strike with both feet, physical. Could be special.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

@Pogue @Sir A1ex

Rossi is on the comeback trail and is in the frame for the World Cup. I agree also that he could have been a top 5 striker in the world if he had been more fortunate with injury.

That's great news. Balotelli's been acting the maggot (again) so if Guiseppe can get fit he's got a good chance of featuring. Would love to see him playing for Italy in a World Cup.

 

[redtilldead123]

Might turn out to be crap. Maybe world class. Or maybe another Rooney. Who knows?