My guess would be that the parents are more influenced by what city offer, and the unlikeliness of making it means it's easier to take the short term benefits
Miscellaneous Reserve/Youth News
- Thread starter Cevno
- Start date
My guess would be that the parents are more influenced by what city offer, and the unlikeliness of making it means it's easier to take the short term benefits
I think you're both right here, also I think their links to that La Liga side which would present them the chance to display their talents in a serious league may also work in City's favour.
Polish U15 captain and CB on trial with United.
Bejger has already done interviews saying he was more impressed with United's academy set up than City's and that we're his dream club but carry on with the City inferiority complex lads.
That sounds extremely promising. City's academy so far looks a bit like Chelsea's at the moment where it's more just for show, whether they produce quality players remains to be seen but Guardiola's given least amount of games to academy products by a huge margin. Not to say they haven't already got good players, but their crowning jewel in Sancho has already left for first team football.
Glad to see these players are seeing past money and looking towards what is best (hopefully) for their careers.
That's good to hear that we're still getting these talented players.
@jb8521 - I did mention the hype about their academy maybe swaying things, hopefully the propaganda regarding their set up is failing?
Chelsea have arguably had the best academy set up in the world based on the last 5 years. Clearly transitioning players into the first team is a big problem for them but it's a separate issue, though that's where we will always hold a significant advantage over all other clubs.
It's up there but Barcelona/Benfica even Madrid to a lesser extent are still producing quality players and actually integrating them into the first team better.
In fact, us and Spurs have been producing first team quality players better than Chelsea, they get good results but results aren't everything. Surely having your best academy players in your first team is a sign of how good your academy actually is?
A very large number of their players compete in the Dutch Erdivise which I think is comparable with the championship. Players like RLC, Baker and (a left footed CM whos name i forget) are PL players IMO. There's also Musonda who is getting stuck in what I would call the Chelsea no mans land for 19/20 year olds. My point is that they are very good with the very young age groups up to 18, at which point their players are seemingly farmed out for profit and are best advised to leave. They have a large pool of very talented individuals who have a good team work ethic, an area where I feel our individualistic approach can cause attitude problems and a comparitive lack of tactical understanding domestically and internationally as our teams can often look completely bemused against other top academies. I don't see the obsession with winning that you point out, they often play 16/17 year olds in the U23 league and play schoolboys up in the U18s league, whilst we all put out our best teams in the cup games.
Last edited:
A common misunderstanding IMO. Bringing youth players into the first team is mostly a result of club culture and dependent on the modus operandi of the first team manager. As a club, Chelseas youth culture/the loaning system is toxic and uninspiring, though not a reflection of the quality of their academy. If you're not a world class wonderkid you're not even given a second thought. Kids are not badly advised to join Chelsea as a schoolboy but would be well advised to negotiate a contract that terminates when they are 18 or 19 to allow them to move to a more youth friendly club. Solanke is a good example for Chelseas players in this context, getting first team games at Liverpool now.
Last edited:
kids are/will get wise to the reality that City’s academy is a stepping stone to someone else’s first team, and back door it after a few years of using the facilities. Bobby Duncan is the latest to opt to go elsewhere, probably because they signed that Arab kid from Valencia - they stockpile ‘talent’ rather than focusing on polishing the gems they already have.
Who have United poached so far?
Where's Bobby Duncan off to? Hear he hasn't played or trained at all this season.
He's Gerrard's cousin so he might link up with him at Liverpool, he manages the U18s if I remember rightly.
Well from what I've heard a number of their players and their families are unhappy because although they make a big deal out of players when they are trying to sign them and promise them the world once they are actually there they just become another number and are generally seen as interchangeable and replaceable. With City a lot of the time they seem to want to be seen to be signing players ahead of other teams but they often aren't any better than players that are already there or in a number of cases are worse than the players who have to make way for them so their staff seem more interested in the chase rather than actual development and parents who are actually looking at their kids development rather than just the financial package are becoming more wise to this. While they'll obviously always be able to attract players the word seems to be out about some of their less than savory tactics when it comes to underage recruitment and I'd expect more of it to come to light if the new set of investigations are actually carried out properly.
As far as I know he's going to Liverpool
Though I can agree with most of your sentiments I have to highlight the bolded part. This should be a necessary norm and parents/players should accept a culture where no one (at least as a first year scholar or schoolboy) is elevated in status/favored over another. That sort of environment is toxic for young people. I love the La Massia culture in this respect and although some peope find Tiki taka or similar philosophies boring, it's the epitomy of the Barca philosophy of collectivism over individualism. We raise too many divas in our academy.
Is this the reason why they're constantly losing their best talents in the last five-six years? The person who was officially declared the second best player in U17 WC is now leaving for Dortmund.
Dortmund is a great platform for a 17 year old to break through earlier than they would elsewhere. For the same reasons I stated above, I seriously doubt they are moving because they think La Massia isn't good enough for them to develop.
It’s because they’ve also abandoned their principles that made them special, gave them that identity under, and have become just another club with a big budget and fetish for mercenaries. Atlético appears to be be a decent option for young talent - Lucas, Koke and Saul are obviously prominent members of the current first team, but De Gea and Oliver Torres were also integrated to a certain extent (although Oliver was underused IMO)
Yeah it’s always a good idea to sign for a club that ultimately wants to sell you for a big profit ASAP - you know you’re going to be developed and integrated immediately.
I didn't mean players being elevated over their peers I meant that they aren't valued because City just see it that they can just go out and replace them anyway the same way they acted as if they didn't care about United taking 3 of their top academy scouts because they didn't matter anyway and they could just go out and get new ones. Not sure where you've gotten this idea that we're raising divas and maybe it's because you pay more attention to United than other clubs but generally players at United's academy are kept a lot more grounded than at most clubs.
Is Gribbin a bit of a diva as rumoured?
How many "divas" have we raised? 
He can be a bit petulant but seems to have matured quite a bit over the past 18 months, he got a bit of a reputation based mainly on people looking at the Twitter account of a 15/16 year old with too much time on his hands and it's stuck which is a bit unfair on him
Cheers.
Good to see that we start to offer pro deal for our better English players earlier. Almost unfair for them compared to the foreign players few seasons ago.
REDS YOUNGSTER DUNNE
Another Manchester United Academy prospect, Max Dunne, has put pen to paper on a first professional contract at the club.
Dunne, an 18-year-old local lad, has joined the pro ranks following the recent announcements of deals for Angel Gomes, Aidan Barlow, Aliou Traore, Arnau Puigmal and George Tanner.
The centre-back played in the recent 4-2 win at Stoke City and will look to push on under coach Kieran McKenna, who recently described him as a “tough, aggressive defender who is good in the air”.
Dunne could feature when the Under-18s are next in action, against Derby County on Saturday.
That match will be broadcast live on MUTV and kick-off is scheduled for 12:00 GMT.
Manutd.com
Another Manchester United Academy prospect, Max Dunne, has put pen to paper on a first professional contract at the club.
Dunne, an 18-year-old local lad, has joined the pro ranks following the recent announcements of deals for Angel Gomes, Aidan Barlow, Aliou Traore, Arnau Puigmal and George Tanner.
The centre-back played in the recent 4-2 win at Stoke City and will look to push on under coach Kieran McKenna, who recently described him as a “tough, aggressive defender who is good in the air”.
Dunne could feature when the Under-18s are next in action, against Derby County on Saturday.
That match will be broadcast live on MUTV and kick-off is scheduled for 12:00 GMT.
Manutd.com
What does it matter if he's English or not? If you're talking about the 2 who signed today, they're no where near "our better players" (regardless of nationality) in the squad. Don't see how it could've been seen as unfair if there is a clear talent difference, in some cases?
Don't think you get what I talked about mate. Ben Pearson only got pro deal when after he finishes 2 seasons with the U18s. Charni Ekangamene got his pro deal at 17. Almost every foreign import got pro deal at 17 meanwhile before the Gribbin, Williams, Dearnley generation if you're English most of the cases you only got pro deal after you finished your scholarships.
Might be because there's normally a lot of hype around the foreign lads and we've normally stole in ahead of other suitors to begin with to get them over here. Other European clubs are likely still keeping an eye on them, and not the likes of Dunne and Tanner.
Getting them on a pro deal reduces the likelihood we'll lose them before we get a chance to see what they're really made of.
If you're coming from abroad, you will get a pro contract at 17, that's almost always usually the case, regardless of club. I don't think that should be used as a comparison to the domestic lads. Plus, what does nationality matter anyway, if the player is good enough?
Willock and Charlie Scott both going on loan to SPL. St. Johnstone and Hamilton respectively.
Last edited:
So we have Hamilton plus Scott (McTominay) playing for Man United and Man United's Scott playing for Hamilton...
Apologies if this has already been posted but according to a tweet on the M.E.N. blog, Harry Spratt has rejected a new contract and joined Huddersfield.
Most lads sign pro deals at 17...it is the norm regardless of where they come from.
The differrence being that foreign signed players are hand picked from thousands (even millions) of school boys across Europe and the world. It is therefore safe to assume that in being this selective with our foreign signed players scouts will have identified a level of potential that is significantly higher than the majority of local lads who have been attached to the club for a while.