The latest batch of academy graduates

khoazany

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Too early to tell about any of them of course so this is not a thread about the next "Class of 92" or anything.More about "Watch this space" :)

Every United fan who follow the academy/U21s a bit would have known about the "Class of 2011" who were our best crop of youngsters in the last 10-15 years.They won the FA Youth Cup convincingly, following the footsteps of Busby Babes and Co92 themselves. However it's fair to say their stepping up to first team had been a major disappointment.The star of the age group Ravel Morrison destroyed his own career with bad attitude and personal life and was sold to West Ham for peanuts.Another star of the age group - Paul Pogba - left for Juventus after made only 7 appearances for our first team and has proved his decision to be correct.Michael Keane failed to prove himself in the first team on the short period that he was promoted.Tom Thorpe wasn't given any chance and released after 3 years captaining the Reserves.Zeky Fryers and Ryan Tunnicliffe turned out to be far from the level required, same for Tom Lawrence and Tyler Blackett.

Despite all the blue about this group, there are still 3 players who's still at United at the moment - Will Keane,Sam Johnstone and Jesse Lingard.It's fair to say that only Lingard has a fair chance to stay here long-term though.

So back to the latest crop.People might think that it's normal to have some hyped youngsters at United for every age group.However, there're factors that are much more important than how some youth watchers rate them, that are how the coaching staffs rate them and how they fare when given a chance or two.

This is our XI when we played Spurs last season in the FA Youth Cup:
Dean Henderson
Tyler Reid
Axel Tuanzebe
RoShaun Williams
Cameron B-J
Devonte Redmond
Timothy Fosu-Mensah
Joe Riley
Callum Gribbin
Zak Dearnley
Marcus Rashford

Other players of the same group or thereabout who weren't there for various reasons - Demetri Mitchell,Tosin Kehinde,Tyrell Warren.

It's easy to recognize the two that started our last first team (!) games - Rashford and Fosu-Mensah.CBJ has been good most of the 8 first team appearances he made.

However, it's fair to say that there's more to come from this group.Joe Riley did well in his 2 appearances with the first team so far but he's not the main hopes of this group.Let's look at how the rest was rated.

Tuanzebe has been U21s regular before his injury.Captain of the U18s last season and still eligible for that level this season.
Williams has been U21s regular in the last few months.Captain of the U18s at the start of this season and still eligible for U18s level next season.
Gribbin - debut for the U21s last season and already a star man at U18s level last season despite still eligible for it next season.
Dearnley - already an U18s regular last season as an U16s - 4 years contract and pro deal at 17.
Warren - already made some U21s appearance recently despite still eligible for the U18s next season.
Reid - started for the U21s against City last season.Injuries have affected his progress a bit but he has been an absolute monster at U18s level recently.
Mitchell - hampered by injuries but is always regarded as one of the best "flair" players at the academy and only on his first year as a pro so plenty of time.
Kehinde - people might wonder why I include someone who didn't really play ahead of his age group but there's a real player on this kid.Would have heard a lot more about him if not for last season when paperwork and injuries stopped him from appearing for the U18s.
Henderson - almost hopeless for any youth goalkeeper to make it at a big club but he was on first team bench last Monday and did really well on his few U21s appearances and on loan so far.

Not to mention Regan Poole who was signed this season and already debuted for the 1st team though he's not academy graduate.

A lot of things will happen in the next 3-4 years and a lot from those names will disappoint us, or turn out to be average, or maybe not even given a sniff. However I think it's great to have a group again whereby we can lift some hopes about them following the footsteps of some of the great group of academy graduates that we used to have in the past.What a truly special feeling as an United fan if some of them turned out to be great isn't it.
 
Thanks for keeping us up to date on the academy @Khozany. Always very interested on the next up and coming players. Suffice to say,the last few years have been a bitter disappointment when it seemed like at least some out of the likes of Pogba, Morrison, Tunnicliffe, Cole, Cleverly, Welbeck, Pearson, Petrucci, Macheda, Rothwell, Angelo Henriques, Fryers, Keane brothers will make it to become a mainstay of our first team.

Of course, Pogba had made a brilliant career elsewhere, while Cleverly has faded after a bright start and LvG didn't think Welbeck will ever become a top class striker.

Still one can always hope for the future, now that we have Roshaun Williams, Tuanzebe, TFM, Rashford, Mitchell, Gribbin who are highly rated, in additional to Pereira & Januzaj who are on the cusp of first team football. CBJ and Joe Riley acquitted themselves well in the matches we've seen so far. Sean Goss is an anomaly though, he seems to be in LvG's plan when he joined the US tour, but hardly had a sniff even when we are so decimated by injuries. Wilson is another strange one where he has been given chances but has never shined like he did at the U levels.

Just a question though, how are you so acquainted with our reserves and academy?
 
I was very disappointed last season when we didnt give Michael Keane a decent shot in the 1st team. I will most likely be proved wrong but I expect to see him be a good PL level CB at the very least.

Pereira and Varela have also stepped up from the reserves. I was hoping we'd see more from Andreas this season but Van Gaal hasn't used him as much as I'd have liked.
 
Red Comet said:
Thanks for keeping us up to date on the academy @Khozany. Always very interested on the next up and coming players. Suffice to say,the last few years have been a bitter disappointment when it seemed like at least some out of the likes of Pogba, Morrison, Tunnicliffe, Cole, Cleverly, Welbeck, Pearson, Petrucci, Macheda, Rothwell, Angelo Henriques, Fryers, Keane brothers will make it to become a mainstay of our first team.

Of course, Pogba had made a brilliant career elsewhere, while Cleverly has faded after a bright start and LvG didn't think Welbeck will ever become a top class striker.

Still one can always hope for the future, now that we have Roshaun Williams, Tuanzebe, TFM, Rashford, Mitchell, Gribbin who are highly rated, in additional to Pereira & Januzaj who are on the cusp of first team football. CBJ and Joe Riley acquitted themselves well in the matches we've seen so far. Sean Goss is an anomaly though, he seems to be in LvG's plan when he joined the US tour, but hardly had a sniff even when we are so decimated by injuries. Wilson is another strange one where he has been given chances but has never shined like he did at the U levels.

Just a question though, how are you so acquainted with our reserves and academy?
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Pretty sure Goss has been injured.
 
I know he's a bit young, but Angel Gomes deserves a mention as far as our promising academy kids go. He's arguably the most gifted of the lot, and England captain at his age group. I wouldn't be surprised if he jumps over a few into the first team over the next 18 months. A lot will depend on the management team at the time of course, but that's a conversation for another thread.
 
Pogba and Morrison aside, I consider the generation in between stronger than either. Januzaj, Pereira, Wilson, Pearson, Rothwell, Harrop, James, Daehli, Weir, Love, Rudge, Barmby. Ok, it didn't have the defensive quality of the sides before and after, but in terms of forwards and midfielders the depth of talent was better.

Which is not to say I don't expect big things from some of the current lads. We're talking fine margins. The sky's the limit for TFM, there's an embarrassment of riches at CB, and Angel Gomes is bearing down on this age group fast too. Plus, more importantly, these lads look like they'll actually get the real chances which unfortunately eluded (or have so far eluded) too many of the above names.
 
Within the club the generation with Williams, Gribbin, Dearnley, Warren, Whelan, Makela and Kenyon have long been talked about as the best single year group of players to come through in a long, if you add the likes of Tuanzebe, Reid, Rashford, Fosu Mensah and Kehinde from last years first year scholars its an extremely strong group. Incidentally the current under 14s are rated just as highly by some of the academy staff.
 
Brightonian said:
Pogba and Morrison aside, I consider the generation in between stronger than either. Januzaj, Pereira, Wilson, Pearson, Rothwell, Harrop, James, Daehli, Weir, Love, Rudge, Barmby. Ok, it didn't have the defensive quality of the sides before and after, but in terms of forwards and midfielders the depth of talent was better.

Which is not to say I don't expect big things from some of the current lads. We're talking fine margins. The sky's the limit for TFM, there's an embarrassment of riches at CB, and Angel Gomes is bearing down on this age group fast too. Plus, more importantly, these lads look like they'll actually get the real chances which unfortunately eluded (or have so far eluded) too many of the above names.
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The point is how they were rated by the coaches.Januzaj,Wilson and both Pereiras are the only ones who played ahead of their age group for that crop.The likes of Daehli/Pearson were deemed as too small/not ready to do that.The latest crop has Tuanzebe,Wiliams,TFM,Rashford,Warren already did that and it's easy to imagine Gribbin and Dearnley will be promoted to the U21s next season ahead of schedule.
 
Rozay said:
I know he's a bit young, but Angel Gomes deserves a mention as far as our promising academy kids go. He's arguably the most gifted of the lot, and England captain at his age group. I wouldn't be surprised if he jumps over a few into the first team over the next 18 months. A lot will depend on the management team at the time of course, but that's a conversation for another thread.
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He belongs to the group below.Of course if somehow they turn out to be the new CO92 his name will be grouped as part of them as well, just like how Phil Neville was wrongly considered a part of CO92.
 
khoazany said:
He belongs to the group below.Of course if somehow they turn out to be the new CO92 his name will be grouped as part of them as well, just like how Phil Neville was wrongly considered a part of CO92.
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He's younger of course, I just meant he could progress at the same time as the rest of the group, as I can see him coming through early - at least under the current regime.
 
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