The Former United Youth/Reserves Thread

pascell said:
@lysglimt @kundalini great work guys, funnily enough I was looking at what most of those guys are up to nowadays recently.

Being from Preston I follow their results and have been to a few games in the past when United arent at home. Pearson is by far their best player, if they don't make the PL this season someone will come in for him, although his disciplinary record isn't great.

Josh Harrop also plays for them he has 3 goals from 15 appearances, 6 were starts.
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I always tend to watch Preston if they are on for Pearson.

He's a good player, walking booking though :) as you say...and he doesn't pull out after a booking either...he's 110% aggression at all times :lol:

I've alot or time for him, really dug in and making a career for himself. Nice to see Harrop doing ok...did enjoy watching him as well.

Heard Sean Goss and Joe Rothwell names in the last few weeks in passing too.

Mats Daehli was one I really thought stood out at U18 level, and reading a few Cardiff based articles some thought he was a little unlucky there...

Pity James Wilson hasn't found any great form since leaving. Always enjoyed watching him play n all.

Ashley Fletcher always seems to be decent when I watch Boro highlights on sky
 
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In Rainbows said:
Ravel had a nice performance in the FA cup today. Could have scored or assisted, if not for teammates either failing to pass him the ball in dangerous positions.
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Hard team to get into at the moment, with them doing so well. You'd be hard pressed to justify changing the side too much
 
James Weir has left Bolton following the cancellation of his contract by mutual consent. He has yet to establish himself at any level, since leaving our U21/U23 side. Barely featured during his time at Hull. His loan at Wigan in the Championship wasn't a success. Started matches in August and early September before the change of ownership meant Bolton could recruit out of contract players.

Will Keane has 3 goals in 9 starts and 8 sub appearances for Ipswich in League One this season. A regular scorer at U21 level but has found it very difficult to score in the Championship and now struggling to get goals in League One.

Zak Dearnley scored for Oldham against Bradford at the weekend, having rejoined during the Jan transfer window, mentioned above, after being on loan last spring.

Callum Whelan featured for Watford in their two FA Cup games against Tranmere. I didn't immediately recognise him in the highlights, due to his much longer hair.

DJ Buffonge now on loan at Pergolettese in Serie C, from Spezia Calcio. Only got 66 mins as a sub in Serie B. His contract at Spezia Calcio is to summer 2021.

Matty Willock fit again after a long period out injured. Got mins as a sub in last two Gillingham league games.

Regan Poole has been an unused sub for MK Dons since Boxing Day. 13 starts in League One this season, most as a CB.

As mentioned elsewhere on the forum, James Wilson joined Salford City from Aberdeen and Ravel Morrison on loan at Middlesbrough from Sheff United.

Adnan Januzaj started Real Sociedad's most recent La Liga match. He's been on the bench for the majority of games this season.

Corry Evans suffered a fractured skull and shattered eye socket after he was caught by a high boot in Jan.

Josh Harrop 5 goals and 1 assist in 10 starts 10 sub for Preston in the Championship

Paddy McNair has been playing CB for Middlesbrough since the start of 2020

Donald Love's embarrassing own goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup was a moment for him to forget. All of the Shrewsbury trio started that match. Love 25 starts in League One, Williams 20, Goss 13. The replay was decided by Ro-Shaun Williams' own goal; not quite as terrible an error as Love's.

Josh Bohui has 70 mins as a sub in the Keuken Kampione Divisie. A knee injury kept him out until mid Nov. Contract until summer 2021. Turns 21 in early March.

Joe Rothwell yet to score in the Championship this season, only one assist. Since joining Blackburn he has made 26 starts 32 sub appearances in the Championship, contributing 2 goals and 3 assists. He turned 25 in early Jan. Contract until summer 2021.
 
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DJ Jeff said:
Anyone remember Marnick Vermijl? In the second division in Holland now. Once upon a time he had a bit of hype
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He was very solid at youth level, but didn't have outstanding quality. I think people are becoming more informed with each subsequent generation of youth teams.
 
Matty James got 5 mins as a sub for Leicester against Man City. Not featured in the PL since early March 2018 due to injuries and not being registered for the first half of this season as Leicester had too many players.
 
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Tyrell Warren has been loaned out to Boston United in National League North after not being included in the matchday squad once for Salford.
 
I was looking at Manchester United's 2008-09 bussiness with youth and quite alot happened if you count transfers + players promoted recently from youth system.

Rafael and Fabio came from Fluminense in the summer

Danny Welbeck was promoted to first team squad

Darron Gibson and Jonny Evans played more than in past seasons

Manucho and Macheda played a few matches during the season

In January 2009 Zoran Tosic and Ritchie De Laet came

And there also was Possebon, who I almost forgot about. Signed in January 2008, but made his debut in 08-09.

What do you guys make from that moment in time ? There was high hope for all of them but never worked out...
 
Luke1995 said:
I was looking at Manchester United's 2008-09 bussiness with youth and quite alot happened if you count transfers + players promoted recently from youth system.

Rafael and Fabio came from Fluminense in the summer

Danny Welbeck was promoted to first team squad

Darron Gibson and Jonny Evans played more than in past seasons

Manucho and Macheda played a few matches during the season

In January 2009 Zoran Tosic and Ritchie De Laet came

And there also was Possebon, who I almost forgot about. Signed in January 2008, but made his debut in 08-09.

What do you guys make from that moment in time ? There was high hope for all of them but never worked out...
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Tosic, Manucho and De Laet were never at it, Rafael and Fab were very unlucky that their bodies couldn't keep up with their ability, Welbeck was a decent lad with a lot of qualities but simply put, not the right mentality. A striker who can't finish is no use to man nor beast. Unlucky with injuries also later on. Macheda and Gibson had plenty of ability, particularly Gibson, but poor attitudes, and Possebon I think was a combination of injury and lack of mental resilience. Think his ability might have been overhyped too but he definitely had something.

Evans is the only one who ought to have been a success. Again, bit unlucky with injury and perhaps lacking a bit of ruthlessness/resilience, but really I think he suffered from the fans and maybe coach getting on his back a bit too much, as well as people tarring him with the same brush as a lot of the others around him who flopped hard between injuries and attitude. He was never in that category for me. Certainly not with the number of injury prone centre backs we had knocking around at the club, he would have been last on my list to go given his age and ability.
 
TwoSheds said:
Tosic, Manucho and De Laet were never at it, Rafael and Fab were very unlucky that their bodies couldn't keep up with their ability, Welbeck was a decent lad with a lot of qualities but simply put, not the right mentality. A striker who can't finish is no use to man nor beast. Unlucky with injuries also later on. Macheda and Gibson had plenty of ability, particularly Gibson, but poor attitudes, and Possebon I think was a combination of injury and lack of mental resilience. Think his ability might have been overhyped too but he definitely had something.

Evans is the only one who ought to have been a success. Again, bit unlucky with injury and perhaps lacking a bit of ruthlessness/resilience, but really I think he suffered from the fans and maybe coach getting on his back a bit too much, as well as people tarring him with the same brush as a lot of the others around him who flopped hard between injuries and attitude. He was never in that category for me. Certainly not with the number of injury prone centre backs we had knocking around at the club, he would have been last on my list to go given his age and ability.
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Sure, I agree, but how do you explain some of the signings Fergie made, like Tosic, Manucho, De Laet, Bebe, Obertan and so on ? He must have seen them play ? Or did he just accept scout reports at times ?

He liked to buy cheap young players from all over europe, but at least in the 2000's I can't think of many who went on to play alot.

Is Gibson still at Sunderland btw ? I remember seeing him in season 1 of that Netflix show
 
Also @TwoSheds how do you think United's current youth/reserves compares to other years you may have watched ? If you can shed some light on the difference between the fergie recruitment staff and what the club has today
 
Luke1995 said:
Sure, I agree, but how do you explain some of the signings Fergie made, like Tosic, Manucho, De Laet, Bebe, Obertan and so on ? He must have seen them play ? Or did he just accept scout reports at times ?

He liked to buy cheap young players from all over europe, but at least in the 2000's I can't think of many who went on to play alot.

Is Gibson still at Sunderland btw ? I remember seeing him in season 1 of that Netflix show
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Gibson is at Salford.
 
Luke1995 said:
Sure, I agree, but how do you explain some of the signings Fergie made, like Tosic, Manucho, De Laet, Bebe, Obertan and so on ? He must have seen them play ? Or did he just accept scout reports at times ?

He liked to buy cheap young players from all over europe, but at least in the 2000's I can't think of many who went on to play alot.

Is Gibson still at Sunderland btw ? I remember seeing him in season 1 of that Netflix show
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Luke1995 said:
Also @TwoSheds how do you think United's current youth/reserves compares to other years you may have watched ? If you can shed some light on the difference between the fergie recruitment staff and what the club has today
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I can't say I'm any kind of youth expert, you'd need Mr Mujac (is he still on the board?), @oskarutd , @jb8521 , or I think @khoazany is also pretty clued up if I remember rightly.

But yeah in terms of Fergie's cheap punts, I think he just wanted to try to make superstars without paying for them. I think he was making those punts for a combination of commercial reasons and maybe also because the youth system went through quite a lull between the Pique, Evans, Gibson, Rossi side up until Butt came really, albeit with clear exceptions such as that excellent year where Pogba, Morrison, Lingard, Keane etc all came through. But even with them, you'd look at their mentalities and question whether they ever really had the right leadership and coaching, I don't feel like they've really fulfilled their potential in many cases.

I'm sure Fergie did watch those left field players before signing them, and they all had something (Mame Biram Diouf went on to have a decent time at Stoke for example), but don't forget he wasn't beyond doing favours for agents and things like that, I certainly question the motives around that Bebe transfer, even if the lad wasn't quite as rubbish as was made out.

I think we revamped the scouting network for sure under Ed, particularly at youth level, and now that we've finally got a structure in place that they seem to have made work in terms of who to target (get Woodward and his mates well away from it!), we're probably starting to see the benefits. Don't be surprised though if another Dong turns up in time, they're low odds signings but sometimes the potential upsides are worth the gamble. Obertan for example was one of the best youth players around but never kicked on. Fergie was gambling on getting something out of him that others hadn't. Unfortunately at United you can't just give runs of games out to see what happens though, it's always going to be a difficult club to do that.
 
Tosic was weird signing to be honest, but maybe has something to do with Ljajic. Ljajic was very talented at that moment, one of the best in generation I think, but for some reason that transfer has been cancelled (attitude I guess). Ljajic made a decent career. Both from the same team, maybe part of the package. Tosic never looked like United player, but at least he was out in no time for solid money.

Manucho, De Leat, Diouf - really weird signings.

Macheda was good as a kid, Possebon also, if I remember good, he had couple of games in the first team before injury and have not looked bad in those outings. But injury killed him, never come back, not sure if he played senior football after that.
 
TwoSheds said:
I can't say I'm any kind of youth expert, you'd need Mr Mujac (is he still on the board?), @oskarutd , @jb8521 , or I think @khoazany is also pretty clued up if I remember rightly.

But yeah in terms of Fergie's cheap punts, I think he just wanted to try to make superstars without paying for them. I think he was making those punts for a combination of commercial reasons and maybe also because the youth system went through quite a lull between the Pique, Evans, Gibson, Rossi side up until Butt came really, albeit with clear exceptions such as that excellent year where Pogba, Morrison, Lingard, Keane etc all came through. But even with them, you'd look at their mentalities and question whether they ever really had the right leadership and coaching, I don't feel like they've really fulfilled their potential in many cases.

I'm sure Fergie did watch those left field players before signing them, and they all had something (Mame Biram Diouf went on to have a decent time at Stoke for example), but don't forget he wasn't beyond doing favours for agents and things like that, I certainly question the motives around that Bebe transfer, even if the lad wasn't quite as rubbish as was made out.

I think we revamped the scouting network for sure under Ed, particularly at youth level, and now that we've finally got a structure in place that they seem to have made work in terms of who to target (get Woodward and his mates well away from it!), we're probably starting to see the benefits. Don't be surprised though if another Dong turns up in time, they're low odds signings but sometimes the potential upsides are worth the gamble. Obertan for example was one of the best youth players around but never kicked on. Fergie was gambling on getting something out of him that others hadn't. Unfortunately at United you can't just give runs of games out to see what happens though, it's always going to be a difficult club to do that.
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Well, that helps! I am hopeful about Rashford, Mctominay and Brandon Williams. They can turn out to be great players soon!

Also, there's quite a hype around Hannibal and the potential signing of Jude from Birmhigham, let's see what happens with them
 
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