The Former United Youth/Reserves Thread

Reading the last page got me thinking of Fabien Brandy, once coveted by Barcelona I think whilst with us, currently a Saint Kitts and Nevis international playing for Ebbsfleet in the national league.

Talk about a fall from grace, 29 next month.
 
Motm Harrop scored two for Preston yesterday, including a brilliant FK.
 
Missed this one at the time, James Weir suffered a bad knee injury in November, out for 6 months. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42100787

More Hull news, Will Keane back in squad after missing 14 months due to a cruciate injury.

Hull are currently one point above the relegation zone. So that's 4 former United reserves players (McNair and Love at Sunderland as well as the Hull duo) that joined PL clubs yet find themselves in danger of being in League One next season.

To make matters worse, for various reasons (knee injuries being the main factor), none of them have started many games for their current clubs, nor done enough to be an attractive proposition for Championship clubs looking to buy.

Donald Love more involved at Sunderland since Chris Coleman took over. 5 starts since the beginning of December, though back on the bench for the 0-4 loss at Cardiff. McNair returned from his cruciate injury in late October but missed the whole of December with more fitness problems. At Sunderland, McNair is considered a midfielder.

The Hull duo are contracted until summer 2019, while the Sunderland pair's deals last until summer 2020.
 
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I have got a few questions for people who have been following our youth system since the 2000's:

- How was Marcus Rashford doing in there before he got that opportunity with the first team ? Although he obviously was seem as a talent, what were his promotion prospects back in 2014 and 2015 ?

- Anyone remember Danny Drinkwater at the reserves ? From what I read all over the internet, he was doing very well in 2008 and 2009 but for some reason was never promoted
 
Luke1995 said:
I have got a few questions for people who have been following our youth system since the 2000's:

- How was Marcus Rashford doing in there before he got that opportunity with the first team ? Although he obviously was seem as a talent, what were his promotion prospects back in 2014 and 2015 ?

- Anyone remember Danny Drinkwater at the reserves ? From what I read all over the internet, he was doing very well in 2008 and 2009 but for some reason was never promoted
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Marcus made a sudden jump from Academy to first team due to injuries to first team players. Thus he wasn't on the radar for many back then as he hadn't played that many games for the Reserves.

In terms of Drinkwater, he was always regarded as a steady, decent player but not an improvement on others who we had at the time.
 
Mr. MUJAC said:
Marcus made a sudden jump from Academy to first team due to injuries to first team players. Thus he wasn't on the radar for many back then as he hadn't played that many games for the Reserves.

In terms of Drinkwater, he was always regarded as a steady, decent player but not an improvement on others who we had at the time.
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I find it interesting that Ferguson chose to buy Rafael and Fabio, Obertan Zoran Tosic and even that guy Bebe but overlooked some of the academy who could've maybe have had an impact in the first team. I mean, it was always more likely that a youngster brought up in the club could adapt faster, while the ones bought from foreign countries took longer and often didn't worked out. But I get your point, at the time Drinkwater was in the reserves the first team was stacked. Simpson actually made quite a few appearances, but Gary Neville was still picked ahead of him haha.

About Marcus, the way he made the impact in early 2016... I really thought he was the golden boy of the youth system. still see huge potential in him but just how good he truly is I dunno. Sometimes I overrate him and other times I think he needs major improvements, still inconsistent. Anyway, surely the best to come out of the academy in the past few years.
 
Luke1995 said:
I have got a few questions for people who have been following our youth system since the 2000's:

- How was Marcus Rashford doing in there before he got that opportunity with the first team ? Although he obviously was seem as a talent, what were his promotion prospects back in 2014 and 2015 ?

- Anyone remember Danny Drinkwater at the reserves ? From what I read all over the internet, he was doing very well in 2008 and 2009 but for some reason was never promoted
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Rashford was doing ok but I never thought he was ready to make the step up to the first team and I still have doubts about his long-term prospects. But he was lucky in the sense that we had a injury crisis and our manager was LVG, who is well known for giving young players a chance well before most other managers would.
 
Adnan said:
Rashford was doing ok but I never thought he was ready to make the step up to the first team and I still have doubts about his long-term prospects. But he was lucky in the sense that we had a injury crisis and our manager was LVG, who is well known for giving young players a chance well before most other managers would.
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I have doubts too but i'm pretty sure he won't be another Welbeck, if for some reason he can't make it at United he probably can in another top team or at worst, be a great goalscorer for a respectable mid table team. He's still only 20 though, too early to know for sure.
 
RedMachine03 said:
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Very cool article. Hopefully more teenagers have that opportunity to choose between university and football, some players end up in a Jamie Vardy path of non league football receiving almost no money but can't evolve like Vardy and then have to play even lower than the fourth division because they couldn't do school properly when younger due to the playing schedule...

Just how good was Gill ? If anyone managed to watch reserve matches in 2009-2010.
 
Luke1995 said:
Very cool article. Hopefully more teenagers have that opportunity to choose between university and football, some players end up in a Jamie Vardy path of non league football receiving almost no money but can't evolve like Vardy and then have to play even lower than the fourth division because they couldn't do school properly when younger due to the playing schedule...

Just how good was Gill ? If anyone managed to watch reserve matches in 2009-2010.
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If I remember correctly he captained the reserves at some time, I think he was a good young defender but wouldn't have made it here, and we had more talented CBs coming through also in Thorpe, Fornasier and Keane.
 
Kostov said:
If I remember correctly he captained the reserves at some time, I think he was a good young defender but wouldn't have made it here, and we had more talented CBs coming through also in Thorpe, Fornasier and Keane.
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He was better than Fornasier. And he was also one of those guys who kept picking things up and getting better all the time. But yeah I agree he wouldn't have been a Man Utd player. I think he would have had a crack at a good Championship career though.
 
TwoSheds said:
He was better than Fornasier. And he was also one of those guys who kept picking things up and getting better all the time. But yeah I agree he wouldn't have been a Man Utd player. I think he would have had a crack at a good Championship career though.
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He was probably, but he was much older and Fornasier for all of his reputation when he came from Italy, I think he never really kicked on. Gill looked like a smart player, but even Chester and Cathcart looker more promising before him and still didn't make it here. Championship might have been his level.

Personally I rated Thorpe very highly and thought he would make it here, shame LVG though McNair and Blackett were better CBs.
 
Kostov said:
He was probably, but he was much older and Fornasier for all of his reputation when he came from Italy, I think he never really kicked on. Gill looked like a smart player, but even Chester and Cathcart looker more promising before him and still didn't make it here. Championship might have been his level.

Personally I rated Thorpe very highly and thought he would make it here, shame LVG though McNair and Blackett were better CBs.
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Yeah I suppose Fornasier did have the rep. Funny what happened with Thorpe, never seemed quite tough enough but then never got sent on loan to toughen up. I guess the coaches knew what they were doing ultimately, but he definitely had ability at one point.
 
How was Pogba doing when he first came in ? I'm talking about 2009 and 2010 before he turned 18. Unfortunately I never saw any footage of him in the reserves as a teenager but would love to read someone's else take on it
 
Luke1995 said:
How was Pogba doing when he first came in ? I'm talking about 2009 and 2010 before he turned 18. Unfortunately I never saw any footage of him in the reserves as a teenager but would love to read someone's else take on it
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Basically the same. Crazy talented, sublime skill, goals, passing etc but drifted through games without imposing himself on them. Was rarely a 90 minute player even back then.
 
I was really sorry Fornasier didn't make it at United. Mostly because I wanted to shout 'Pass to Fornasier' like Busta Rhymes.
 
TwoSheds said:
Basically the same. Crazy talented, sublime skill, goals, passing etc but drifted through games without imposing himself on them. Was rarely a 90 minute player even back then.
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Thanks. Maybe people can just accept he plays how he plays and that's how he likes it. He's 25, not too much time to become the next Patrick Vieira.

Players imposing themselves over the 90 minutes is something our academy should definitely put emphasis on.
 
Interesting, hope he does well. The lad had pace and a good work ethic so maybe he can step up yet.
 
:lol: There is evidence to disprove everything he even said. Loads of the youth players have social media and there are pictures of them training in pants and long sleeves.

No surprise after he went home crying at Villa.
 
Luke1995 said:
How was Pogba doing when he first came in ? I'm talking about 2009 and 2010 before he turned 18. Unfortunately I never saw any footage of him in the reserves as a teenager but would love to read someone's else take on it
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Just saw this, and basically agree with what @TwoSheds says. Did great things in an excellent youth team, but I thought Morrison was the stand out talent. I remember when he got sent off for dummying the penalty, that was classic Pogba.
 
Fiskey said:
Just saw this, and basically agree with what @TwoSheds says. Did great things in an excellent youth team, but I thought Morrison was the stand out talent. I remember when he got sent off for dummying the penalty, that was classic Pogba.
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Do you still follow the academy today ? Is it as good as before or it needs major improvement ? Unfortunately MUTV is only available in the UK so I never even watched a reserve or youth game.
 
sincher said:
I was really sorry Fornasier didn't make it at United. Mostly because I wanted to shout 'Pass to Fornasier' like Busta Rhymes.
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I suspect this reference is highly underrated as I can definitely imagine this being delivered by Busta but what's the specific song you had in mind? :lol:
 
Full video highly recommended but the relevant lyric is at about 2:10.
 
Joe Rothwell moves to Blackburn from Oxford. Blackburn got promoted to the Championship. His Oxford contract was up, though they will get a development fee, due to offering him a new deal and him still meeting the age criteria.

He started more often in 2017/8 than in 2016/7. More goals too. Currently aged 23 and a half. From a distance, it seems more of a cheap deal for a player with some potential, good age, rather than someone who had demonstrated they were too good for League One. While he started quite often, he also had lengthy spells on the bench, especially during his first season.

He started one game with two sub appearances for Blackpool in the Championship when on loan back in the spring of 2015. It will be interesting to see how much impact he has this time around.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44582693
 
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