Mats Møller Dæhli

[noodlehair]

The way our youth system seems to work is we pick out the best players and then get rid of them before they become of any use or can even be sold for any kind of profit...then loan out the less decent ones so they get first team football, or play them in the Carling Cup or Champions League, costing us results.

I mean, the odd occasion can't be helped, but why is it turning into a pattern?

 

[Arruda]

Because at 18/19 they should be focused on working hard in training or going out on loan and playing well to impress the manager and earn their way into first team contention, not using their contract situation to try and blackmail the clubs into playing them because they deserve it due to their talent. At 18/19 some players aren't mature enough to accept that they aren't in the first team on merit, as you put it they 'get frustrated'- that isn't always the club's fault- they are just immature, as well they can be easily manipulated and preyed upon by exploitative agents looking for a pay day.

Or perhaps at 18/19 they want to decide what they want to do with their life... First team football in a mid-table club? A wellbeck role at United with all the uncertainty that carries? You seem to want United to be a factory of players whose only goal must be to succeed at United. I bet that's what most of them want, but perhaps they don't want to spend there 10 years of their short career to slowly gain an utility-player role. I don't think anyone at 16 should be pressured into signing 5-year contracts when they're in a phase of seeing their contractual situation change so quickly. I'm certain they all want to be a star for United, but you can't force-fed them uncertainty and expect them all to abide by it. The ones who really have the guts and will, will want to stay there anyway. You don't need 5-year contracts for that. But it's not up to you to decide. We're talking about 16-year olds, many of which will already have agents/parents making decisions for them which may not have their own best interests at heart. This sort of rule gives them some protection.

 

[Decotron]

I'm going to believe you guys. It doesn't make much sense otherwise. I know most don't agree with me that despite their different rates of development, Daehli is an even more promising talent than Januzaj. But surely everyone recognises that he is one of the top 5 prospects in the youth sides. So it would be strange to simply sell him unless something's gone on behind the scenes (homesickness, for example).

That bit simply isnt true.

 

[Brightonian]

Football is about more than what you can do with the ball at your feet. You need a good head on you as well. Something is clearly wrong with him if he's sold and supposedly more talented than Pogba, Cleverley or Welbeck. I don't know how you can rate him higher than Pogba. Pogba is a first team regular in one of the best midfields in the world. He's got two caps for France. And he's two years older than Dæhli. Pogba is an excellent talent and really the only young player that I can remember that "got away". To Dæhli higher than Pogba would be like letting Giggs go at 18. We haven't had many players better than Pogba in the last 20 years.

If Dæhli wouldn't want to leave himself then he probably wouldn't be gone. Not if he has more than a year left on his contract. A loan would have been obvious. If he wanted to go home for some reason and was that desperate that he'd go as far to ask to be sold home then you've got your weakness right there. He wouldn't be the first talent not to make it properly because of a frail mind. Far from it.

I stand by the opinion. Daehli looks to me to have as much or more potential than Pogba had at the same age.

And 'something is clearly wrong with him'? You don't have a clue what the situation is. It might be a glorified loan move with a buy-back clause. He might be homesick. There might be problems in his personal life, or he has struggled to settle as a youngster in a foreign country. Absurd to assume that there is something 'wrong with him.'

 

[Commadus]

What you expect he was a midfielder - the devils spawn!

Perhaps what may have transpired is similar to the Pogba situation where Matts became frustrated that he could not break through into the midfield where Fergie preferred to play 38 year olds, Park, Fabio rather than an upcoming midfielder.

I think its a general issue that we haven't had a breakthrough midfielder even though we seem to have talent in the reserves or youth teams.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

The way our youth system seems to work is we pick out the best players and then get rid of them before they become of any use or can even be sold for any kind of profit...then loan out the less decent ones so they get first team football, or play them in the Carling Cup or Champions League, costing us results.

I mean, the odd occasion can't be helped, but why is it turning into a pattern?

It really is very strange. I keep hearing how so and so is the best thing the academy has seen for years and a few months later he's off to somewhere else. Bit strange for a club that prides itself on being great developing young talent.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

This transfer has 'Solskjær' and 'Eikrem' written all over it.

Dæhli will get the number 7 shirt from Eikrem, and is likely to start playing regular first team football almost immediately for the team that has won the league twice in a row, with possibly the biggest Norwegian name in history as the coach. Obviously that's tempting for a player who's just turned 18! Especially when we look at Eikrem's progress. 2 years ago, at age 21, he was "nothing". Now he's the biggest Norwegian profile around his age, has 2 Tippeliga trophies, plays for the national team, and has just signed for a decent Dutch side. If we then keep in mind that Dæhli is 3 years younger than Eikrem was when he made the exact same move, it becomes obvious why the move is tempting and makes sense. At this rate, he'll be playing regular top European football when he's barely turned 20.. If he stayed in United, he'd only get a couple of minutes of first team football, before eventually going out on a Championship loan at the age of 20/21.

I think he made the right choice.

But why not a loan deal? In this scenario, if he develops really well, the other big clubs have a great chance of getting him as well.

 

[Platato]

It really is very strange. I keep hearing how so and so is the best thing the academy has seen for years and a few months later he's off to somewhere else. Bit strange for a club that prides itself on being great developing young talent.

Unfortunately, most of them aren't good enough and those who are have a hard time waiting. If I was in Mats' position, I'd be looking to move in the next year or so too. Sure, if I stay in the youth system and remain patient my time may come but how many appearances will I get? What happens when United makes another signing? If the notion that Moyes needs to win within his first two seasons, as a youth player, what are my chances of getting into the squad?

It's a short career and with more youth players wanting regular football at an earlier age, it makes it difficult for them to stay. The gap is way too large in my opinion. We talk about the likes of Lingard, Cole, Petrucci, Tunnicliffe. There are no guarantees these lads will make it and what assurances can we give them that they will get more playing time if they wait? I think there is a fair amount of uncertainly and in Mats' case, I think the combination of homesickness and assurance of playing in first-team and gaining experience made this Molde move possible.

 

[Arruda]

I've been thinking about these sort of issues for some time.

In my opinion... Big club from big leagues have started exerting a sort of oligopoly regarding the best players around that there really isn't much room for youngsters in big teams, so it's natural that only the very few once-in-every-ten-years outstanding talents will have a place in the first team on the short term. Some might be happy just being a reliable back-up option, others wont.

Imagine a young talented RB at Real. He could look at the squad and see that he might take Arbeloa's spot soon because the later isn't up to the standards expected. That's his chance. But at the same time if Real is looking to sign one of the top 5 RB's in the world to cover that gap than the youngster will never have a chance. And that's what happening, things have changed quite a bit in the past ten/twenty years. In those times there were the outstanding players, surrounded by competent players who weren't necessarily among the top-10 in the world in their positions. But the standard has increased at this sort of clubs. You look at the first XI of a team like Bayern and Barcelona and you expect each and every one of them to be among the top-10 in the world in their position. Otherwise they're not good enough, and it has to be solved in the next transfer window. They're not going to wait for a player from the U-teams to grow and gain that spot.

You look at a talent like Bruma and he can very well rest assured that he'll be in the first XI of Sporting next season, having just turned 18. He wouldn't have that chance at United or Real. His natural progression implies to gain exposition and maturity at Sporting and then switch to a big club when he's good enough to realistically fight for a first-team space.

People seem to expect everything from clubs nowadays. If a club like Porto bought a South American outstanding talent for 5m than you wonder why United doesn't have a similar scouting work? Well, perhaps it may just be the case that they're not interested, because there's not much room for these talents to grow at United anymore. This implies giving them first-team highly-competitive football in Europe. That's a risk Porto can afford because we don't have anyone better than him in the first team, the same reasoning wouldn't apply to Chelsea or United. Same goes for youth players.

If 1.5m for Mats Daehli covers the costs of his football formation than your academy is at a gain already. You had the chance to bring up a potential first team player, and when that chance doesn't materialize you can still export him without losing money. I don't think you can expect much more, considering the demands upon top clubs these days.

I wasn't criticizing United fans in particular. It's the same everywhere. Even the fans of my clubs aren't willing to risk too much on our youngsters, they prefer to pay 5-10m for a player who is already a star in Argentina or Mexico and who will give us bigger guarantees. If they're indeed that good, the cycle continues with them being ready to step up for even bigger clubs.

 

[KM]

Excellent post Arruda.

What you expect he was a midfielder - the devils spawn!

Perhaps what may have transpired is similar to the Pogba situation where Matts became frustrated that he could not break through into the midfield where Fergie preferred to play 38 year olds, Park, Fabio rather than an upcoming midfielder.

I think its a general issue that we haven't had a breakthrough midfielder even though we seem to have talent in the reserves or youth teams.

 

[Danish Wizard]

Why is it "okay" for him to leave as he wants first team football with Molde. But last summer when Pogba wanted first-team football and left for Juventus, he was an arrogant prick.? No logic in here..

 

[Mad Winger]

Why is it "okay" for him to leave as he wants first team football with Molde. But last summer when Pogba wanted first-team football and left for Juventus, he was an arrogant prick.? No logic in here..

Because Pogba was almost sure to become a part of the first team if he'd waited just a little longer. He even got a few appearances for the first team, and he looked great every time, so there was no reason for him to rush things. His competition was low as well, so that should only have boosted his confidence.

Dæhli was still miles away from the first team, and he followed one of his greatest friends and mentors(Solskjær). Big, big difference.

 

[KM]

I don't buy this first team football thing. He just turned 18. Surely no player is that dumb, I'm guessing he has moved back for homesickness.

 

[Mad Winger]

Dæhli was interviewed by a Norwegian newspaper today. I can't be arsed to translate the whole thing, but here are the key points:

* Playing first team football for United was his dream, so the decision to leave was not an easy one.
* Nevertheless, his contract has a buy-back claue, should United become interested again.
* His reason for leaving is because he wishes to develop as a player. He feels that Molde is the best place for this.
* Solskjær was the most important motivation for his move. He's known Solskjær for a long time, and feels safer when he is in charge of his development.
* He's also inspired by Eikrem, who made a similar move and became pretty successful.

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

How weird. He's 18 years old and he feels he's not "developing" enough at United. He could easily have gone on loan this season to Molde if that's how he felt. To outright asked to be sold is just weird.

I hope we don't regret this one. I always thought we lost Eikrem too soon and to lose Daehli is a blow.

 

[Top]

How weird. He's 18 years old and he feels he's not "developing" enough at United. He could easily have gone on loan this season to Molde if that's how he felt. To outright asked to be sold is just weird.

I hope we don't regret this one. I always thought we lost Eikrem too soon and to lose Daehli is a blow.

If we regret it, we'll just buy him back.

 

[Mad Winger]

How weird. He's 18 years old and he feels he's not "developing" enough at United. He could easily have gone on loan this season to Molde if that's how he felt. To outright asked to be sold is just weird.

The thing is, Dæhli was struggling to get playtime for the reserves. For the youth team, he was arguably the best player. Still, that wasn't enough to give him reserve team football, so what could he do? If he was already the among the best in the youth team, then he needed to step up in order to develop. He wasn't allowed to do this, so his move makes sense. In Molde under Solskjær he is much more likely to develop as a player than for the youth team, and arguably even the reserves.

The reason he didn't go for a loan deal is pretty obvious. If he does well for Molde and a decent Dutch or German side comes knocking, signing for them would be a lot easier if he's under a contract for Molde.

All in all I think Dæhli is trying to go down the same road as Eikrem, but with more time on his hands. Going on loan to a mediocre Championship club at the age of 21(for instance), must be every youth players nightmare. To be that "old" and stand without proper first team football at a reasonably high level, must be depressing as hell. I think Arruda made a brilliant post about this(see a couple of posts above).

 

[Brightonian]

Buy-out clause, excellent. Perfectly ok move in that case, in my opinion. Much like a loan move but better for all parties really:

- The player knows that the club he's going to really want him, really see him as a serious addition to their side, and will definitely play him. Rather than just taking a loanee to pad out the squad.

- Molde are potentially getting a fantastic player for good, and he'll certainly be more committed than a loanee.

- We can buy him back without overpaying if he does start to fulfil his promise. Meanwhile, he'll be playing first team football at a decent technical side in a decent technical league, rather than playing loan roulette in the Championship every half season.

I've always liked that we genuinely look out for the interests of our youngsters. They're in an incredibly vulnerable position, and if things go wrong for them they can easily find themselves on the scrap heap by 21, with no future in the game and no real skills outside of it. I wouldn't like to hear that we were trying to keep players at the club against their wishes, as sometimes (more forgivably) happens with older players.

 

[Arruda]

Yeah, a loan could be better for United but it's not like United is the sole decider in these things. The player and the club also have a word to say about that. Unless a club is scraping for money they will usually prefer to own the player rights and potentially profit on their sale, rather than just being a vehicle for the development of the player.

 

[gooDevil]

I'm confused, if Daehli isn't good enough, who is exactly? Seems we might as well sell everyone else but maybe 4 or 5 players if we don't fancy Daelhi's chances.

 

[Giggsforever]

I'm confused, if Daehli isn't good enough, who is exactly? Seems we might as well sell everyone else but maybe 4 or 5 players if we don't fancy Daelhi's chances.

We might as well sell all, for me, he and Januzaj is the ones with the most potential. I think Barmby and Pearson is good as well, but not like MMD and Januzaj.

 

[sajeev]

We might as well sell all, for me, he and Januzaj is the ones with the most potential. I think Barmby and Pearson is good as well, but not like MMD and Januzaj.

Pearson will make it here. Daehli's sale is a bit shocking though

 

[Heffo]

Could we be seeing the start of the type of transfers that Real Madrid and Barcelona take advantage of on a regular basis? Sell a young player who more than likely won't feature in the first team over the next few years, insert a buy back clause in the deal, buy him back if he develops well.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Buy-out clause, excellent. Perfectly ok move in that case, in my opinion. Much like a loan move but better for all parties really:

- The player knows that the club he's going to really want him, really see him as a serious addition to their side, and will definitely play him. Rather than just taking a loanee to pad out the squad.

- Molde are potentially getting a fantastic player for good, and he'll certainly be more committed than a loanee.

- We can buy him back without overpaying if he does start to fulfil his promise. Meanwhile, he'll be playing first team football at a decent technical side in a decent technical league, rather than playing loan roulette in the Championship every half season.

I've always liked that we genuinely look out for the interests of our youngsters. They're in an incredibly vulnerable position, and if things go wrong for them they can easily find themselves on the scrap heap by 21, with no future in the game and no real skills outside of it. I wouldn't like to hear that we were trying to keep players at the club against their wishes, as sometimes (more forgivably) happens with older players.

Except if he does develop into a cracking player, the likes of barca and madrid will have a good shot at getting him too.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

I still can't believe we've sold him. I just don't understand.

 

[Eriku]

He's a United-fan, though. If he gets good enough and we want him, we'll get him.

Looking forward to seeing how he takes to Tippeligaen.

 

[Ish]

I've been thinking about these sort of issues for some time.

In my opinion... Big club from big leagues have started exerting a sort of oligopoly regarding the best players around that there really isn't much room for youngsters in big teams, so it's natural that only the very few once-in-every-ten-years outstanding talents will have a place in the first team on the short term. Some might be happy just being a reliable back-up option, others wont.

Imagine a young talented RB at Real. He could look at the squad and see that he might take Arbeloa's spot soon because the later isn't up to the standards expected. That's his chance. But at the same time if Real is looking to sign one of the top 5 RB's in the world to cover that gap than the youngster will never have a chance. And that's what happening, things have changed quite a bit in the past ten/twenty years. In those times there were the outstanding players, surrounded by competent players who weren't necessarily among the top-10 in the world in their positions. But the standard has increased at this sort of clubs. You look at the first XI of a team like Bayern and Barcelona and you expect each and every one of them to be among the top-10 in the world in their position. Otherwise they're not good enough, and it has to be solved in the next transfer window. They're not going to wait for a player from the U-teams to grow and gain that spot.

You look at a talent like Bruma and he can very well rest assured that he'll be in the first XI of Sporting next season, having just turned 18. He wouldn't have that chance at United or Real. His natural progression implies to gain exposition and maturity at Sporting and then switch to a big club when he's good enough to realistically fight for a first-team space.

People seem to expect everything from clubs nowadays. If a club like Porto bought a South American outstanding talent for 5m than you wonder why United doesn't have a similar scouting work? Well, perhaps it may just be the case that they're not interested, because there's not much room for these talents to grow at United anymore. This implies giving them first-team highly-competitive football in Europe. That's a risk Porto can afford because we don't have anyone better than him in the first team, the same reasoning wouldn't apply to Chelsea or United. Same goes for youth players.

If 1.5m for Mats Daehli covers the costs of his football formation than your academy is at a gain already. You had the chance to bring up a potential first team player, and when that chance doesn't materialize you can still export him without losing money. I don't think you can expect much more, considering the demands upon top clubs these days.

I wasn't criticizing United fans in particular. It's the same everywhere. Even the fans of my clubs aren't willing to risk too much on our youngsters, they prefer to pay 5-10m for a player who is already a star in Argentina or Mexico and who will give us bigger guarantees. If they're indeed that good, the cycle continues with them being ready to step up for even bigger clubs.

Good post.

 

[KingEric7]

Could we be seeing the start of the type of transfers that Real Madrid and Barcelona take advantage of on a regular basis? Sell a young player who more than likely won't feature in the first team over the next few years, insert a buy back clause in the deal, buy him back if he develops well.

Maybe. It's getting to the stage now whereby we can only be highly confident in the Rafael/Ronaldo level of talents. Preferably Rooney/Messi/Fabregas but those three were ridiculously over-developed for their age. It's highly unlikely we'll ever end up unearthing players like that on a regular basis.

I remember saying a while back that it'd be ridiculous if none of Daehli, Morrison, Petrucci or Pogba made it here.

 

[Ekeke]

I honestly dont think we'll see him in a United shirt again even if he does really well there. We could have easily sent him on loan for a year or even two year deal like many other clubs do. Selling him, even with a buyback, is very different.

We had buybacks for the likes of Richardson and Eagles according to the players. So its neither surprising nor suggests we'll take him again

 

[ghaliboy]

How weird. He's 18 years old and he feels he's not "developing" enough at United. He could easily have gone on loan this season to Molde if that's how he felt. To outright asked to be sold is just weird.

For crying out loud, let the fecking lad develop. See the world through his own eyes.

 

[Snow]

I stand by the opinion. Daehli looks to me to have as much or more potential than Pogba had at the same age.

And 'something is clearly wrong with him'? You don't have a clue what the situation is. It might be a glorified loan move with a buy-back clause. He might be homesick. There might be problems in his personal life, or he has struggled to settle as a youngster in a foreign country. Absurd to assume that there is something 'wrong with him.'

That's all things that would count towards something being wrong with him. Not that he's a dick or is stupid. Mentally weak. I personally know people like this who could be professional football players now but turned back for these reasons and are now semi-pro at best.

 

[Ekeke]

Daehli might have the same potential as Pogba, maybe not. But what he definitely doesnt have is half the physicality and thats what allows him to play first team football so soon. There are a lot of technical players who dont make it because other things a footballer must have just dont develop. There are countries where they have lots of good technical players but they never go on to do that well because physically and mentally they dont develop to the extent that they needed to in order to make it at a good club.

 

[SATA]

I can't help but laugh/ponder at some of the over-reactions here. If anything, the player himself wants to leave and develop elsewhere while we protect ourselves with a buy-back clause. What is there to argue or oppose about really

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Watched him when he came here for the NexLions cup. They were playing Sporting Lisbon and after a promising start and a 1-0 halftime lead it all started going downhill ending 1-4 loss. Mats Daehli was the only one who stood out exceptionally and at the end got a rousing reception from everyone who turned up!

I hate the way press states "United discard joins Molde" and similar!

 

[Genius Me!]

Watched him when he came here for the NexLions cup. They were playing Sporting Lisbon and after a promising start and a 1-0 halftime lead it all started going downhill ending 1-4 loss. Mats Daehli was the only one who stood out exceptionally and at the end got a rousing reception from everyone who turned up!

I hate the way press states "United discard joins Molde" and similar!

Can anyone confirm that this is true?

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Aw, feck off!

 

[londonredmaniac]

The way our youth system seems to work is we pick out the best players and then get rid of them before they become of any use or can even be sold for any kind of profit...then loan out the less decent ones so they get first team football, or play them in the Carling Cup or Champions League, costing us results.

I mean, the odd occasion can't be helped, but why is it turning into a pattern?

You mean like Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and Johnny Evans?

 

[londonredmaniac]

Watched him when he came here for the NexLions cup. They were playing Sporting Lisbon and after a promising start and a 1-0 halftime lead it all started going downhill ending 1-4 loss. Mats Daehli was the only one who stood out exceptionally and at the end got a rousing reception from everyone who turned up!

I hate the way press states "United discard joins Molde" and similar!

Watched that game. Bought despite missing a pen Jack Barmby was very lively. Put a peach of a pass through for he Wilson goal. He was good second half but we were being over run. Sporting were very very good.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Watched that game. Bought despite missing a pen Jack Barmby was very lively. Put a peach of a pass through for he Wilson goal. He was good second half but we were being over run. Sporting were very very good.

Yup. Pretty much he was left along in the wings without support. Worked his sock off and did cause much havoc on his own! Did Lisbon win the cup eventually?

 

[LR7]

Buy-out clause, excellent. Perfectly ok move in that case, in my opinion. Much like a loan move but better for all parties really:

- The player knows that the club he's going to really want him, really see him as a serious addition to their side, and will definitely play him. Rather than just taking a loanee to pad out the squad.

- Molde are potentially getting a fantastic player for good, and he'll certainly be more committed than a loanee.

- We can buy him back without overpaying if he does start to fulfil his promise. Meanwhile, he'll be playing first team football at a decent technical side in a decent technical league, rather than playing loan roulette in the Championship every half season.

I've always liked that we genuinely look out for the interests of our youngsters. They're in an incredibly vulnerable position, and if things go wrong for them they can easily find themselves on the scrap heap by 21, with no future in the game and no real skills outside of it. I wouldn't like to hear that we were trying to keep players at the club against their wishes, as sometimes (more forgivably) happens with older players.

I agree with this. I'm relieved that there is a buy-back clause and the fact that he says playing for United was his dream means that should we look to come back in for him in a few years time when he's more likely to be ready for the first team, that his head won't be turned by other clubs and we'd have first refusal. Also I'm confident that Ole will give him the best advice, should such a situation arise.

I really enjoyed watching this kid play and will follow how he gets on at Molde. One of our best prospects in the academy imo.