The next big thing...

Baby Faced Assassin

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Unfortunately haven't gotten the time to follow the United youth teams as much as I would want to recently.

Last time I followed we had players like Pogba, Morrison and we won the FA Youth Cup.

Any particular players that we have in our youth teams that have gone under the radar and could be the next big thing.

I know of players like Jesse Lingard, James Wilson, Will Keane, etc. but none look like potential world class players that our academy should be rightfully producing.

In particular do we have anything promising coming in central midfield or central defense where Van Gaal can look to promote from within?
 
Player that I hear get mentioned a lot of Pearson. The people that know their stuff about the kids in our reserves think that he will make the grade here.
 
Well you're wrong about Wilson for a start. He absolutely looks like he could be world class if he's developed the right way and steers clear of injuries. He's only 18 ffs. What makes you say that?
 
Andreas Pereira.
 
SirFergie said:
Well you're wrong about Wilson for a start. He absolutely looks like he could be world class if he's developed the right way and steers clear of injuries. He's only 18 ffs. What makes you say that?
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Okay I might be wrong. But he would need to make some serious development in his technical ability to be anywhere close to a world class striker. He has had an incredible last season, but he would have to keep the same progress rate on and avoid injuries to get a regular run at United's first team. At the moment we have Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez ahead of him for that one position and players like Angelo Henriquez & Will Keane competing for the spot.

It would be very difficult for him to cut it at United, because a striker at United is always expected to score around 20-30 goals every season consistently, that's possibly why we haven't had very many strikers coming in from the academy and have always had to outsource that position.
 
Baby Faced Assassin said:
Okay I might be wrong. But he would need to make some serious development in his technical ability to be anywhere close to a world class striker. He has had an incredible last season, but he would have to keep the same progress rate on and avoid injuries to get a regular run at United's first team. At the moment we have Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez ahead of him for that one position and players like Angelo Henriquez & Will Keane competing for the spot.

It would be very difficult for him to cut it at United, because a striker at United is always expected to score around 20-30 goals every season consistently, that's possibly why we haven't had very many strikers coming in from the academy and have always had to outsource that position.
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Wilson is better than Henriquez and Keane already and the likes of Rooney and RVP are more than a decade his senior. He'll get his chances this season, I'm sure of it.
 
Since the class of '94, we haven't had any world class players coming in from our academy, which I frankly find unacceptable.

We cannot afford to buy world class players in all XI positions like City or Chelsea, and we will have to rely on our academy for atleast 1 or 2 quality players coming in every couple of years.

I hope Van Gaal, apart from the obvious task of fixing the first team works on this as well.
 
SirFergie said:
Well you're wrong about Wilson for a start. He absolutely looks like he could be world class if he's developed the right way and steers clear of injuries. He's only 18 ffs. What makes you say that?
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Wilson's first touch can be at times very good and at times really awful. By 18 these days players technique should be really nailed in and too often Wilson looks awkward. He lacks the finesse that Pogba showed at a similar age with his ball control and quality. He has a nice sense about when to move into space and when to hold off moving in to space. I doubt he will ever be "world class" but as you say he is only 18.
 
Pearson,Rothwell,Goss are the 3 CMs from the U21s who looked like potential first team material for me and we have Pereira who's still finding his best position but had played CMs at times.Very hard to predict whether a CM could become world class at their stage of development (depends on your definition of "world class" as well, for me Carrick was world class at his peak).
 
khoazany said:
Pearson,Rothwell,Goss are the 3 CMs from the U21s who looked like potential first team material for me and we have Pereira who's still finding his best position but had played CMs at times.Very hard to predict whether a CM could become world class at their stage of development (depends on your definition of "world class" as well, for me Carrick was world class at his peak).
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Do you really think any of Pearson, Rothwell or Goss have the ability to be first team regulars at United, let alone world class?
 
Baby Faced Assassin said:
Do you really think any of Pearson, Rothwell or Goss have the ability to be first team regulars at United, let alone world class?
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Yes.If they could carry on their good progress.Sometimes it's impossible to give a perfect call.Few seasons ago I thought James (Matthew) is a better prospect than Cleverley but look how it turned out.
 
Baby Faced Assassin said:
Unfortunately haven't gotten the time to follow the United youth teams as much as I would want to recently.

Last time I followed we had players like Pogba, Morrison and we won the FA Youth Cup.

Any particular players that we have in our youth teams that have gone under the radar and could be the next big thing.

I know of players like Jesse Lingard, James Wilson, Will Keane, etc. but none look like potential world class players that our academy should be rightfully producing.

In particular do we have anything promising coming in central midfield or central defense where Van Gaal can look to promote from within?
Click to expand...

Rightfully producing potential world class player?? When does we have that divine right?? Did I miss something??
 
Wilson
Pearson
Pereira
Goss
Lawrence
Demitri mitchel (looks like ravel in his game)

Pereira looked the most talented, but in reserves there is something missing from his game. I think he will adjust this season. Goss looks like a carrick in the making, pearson does everything good for a midfielder but has nothing special about him(apart from his courage and drive). Wilson and lawrence are good players who play with lot of pace. They all have a good chance, I wont call them the next big thing though.

For me the batch of Ravel/daehli/pogba was the one that included the next big things and they all are away from the club.Before that matty james looked class, so did magnus wolf eikrem(cardiff). I would love it if we got daehli back, he made the wrong choice of leaving, should have stayed. Petrucci before them was probably one of the best prospects at undr 18 level and then injuries ruined it for him. We have had terrible luck/decisions in academy other wise we could have a lot of money that we spend on midfield.
 
SirFergie said:
Well you're wrong about Wilson for a start. He absolutely looks like he could be world class if he's developed the right way and steers clear of injuries. He's only 18 ffs. What makes you say that?
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Wilson has the problem that a lot of young players have - if they don't have one outstanding attribute their qualities can be overlooked. So if a player is lightening quick, or 6 ft 10, or can dribble the length of the pitch, its easy to latch on to that. Wilson though is a well rounded player, which makes it easy to overlook his talents.
 
bishblaize said:
Wilson has the problem that a lot of young players have - if they don't have one outstanding attribute their qualities can be overlooked. So if a player is lightening quick, or 6 ft 10, or can dribble the length of the pitch, its easy to latch on to that. Wilson though is a well rounded player, which makes it easy to overlook his talents.
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I don't believe that. Thomas Müller is an example of that I think and it was Van Gaal who brought him into the first team. Also, you can't really say that he's been overlooked since he's already gotten the oppurtunity to play for the first team in a competitive match.
 
JohnnyLaw said:
I don't believe that. Thomas Müller is an example of that I think and it was Van Gaal who brought him into the first team. Also, you can't really say that he's been overlooked since he's already gotten the oppurtunity to play for the first team in a competitive match.
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I mean by fans. I would think the coaches recognise his talents.
 
Clayton Blackmore once said Wilson should have already played for the first team at 16 if only ability is considered.I look at the other "world class talent" striker prospect like Dongou of Barca and I can't see him being any worse.He was tracked closely by Barca and Milan during his younger age as well.Wilson we have seen last season isn't even him in his full fitness.As highly as I rate the likes of Lingard or Lawrence Wilson simply belongs to a higher bracket of talent.
 
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bishblaize said:
Wilson has the problem that a lot of young players have - if they don't have one outstanding attribute their qualities can be overlooked. So if a player is lightening quick, or 6 ft 10, or can dribble the length of the pitch, its easy to latch on to that. Wilson though is a well rounded player, which makes it easy to overlook his talents.
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While I agree with the general sentiment, I don't see how it applies to Wilson. Quite the opposite; his pace is most definitely outstanding and he scored about half a dozen incredibly spectacular goals last season. His talent is anything but easily overlooked.
 
Sky1981 said:
Rightfully producing potential world class player?? When does we have that divine right?? Did I miss something??
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I would consider United's academy to be striving to be in the same category as Barcelona, Ajax, Bayern, etc.

I believe Fergie changed our youth system and so we got a good crop in 1994, why haven't we gotten more after that?

Look at Barca or Bayern for example, they consistently get quality players from their academy.
 
Wilson world-class prospect? I don't think so. He had a great season and I really believe in him he will become danny welbeck level IMO, Welbeck still has got a time to be great here. He won't be near Nistelrooy bracket but sill good enough to start. Comparing should stop comparing Wilson to Januzaj, he is not that good. Adnan was absolutely outstanding player wherever he played for reserves, Wilson is a great poacher and overally great but not as good as Januzaj who is potentially world class..

I heard about and see some Goss performances, potentially new carrick, not world class, pearson a decent player but not world class talent potentially fletcher level in his prime even tho I think he is a little more talented. He still didn't impressed me as much as other people here. He doesn't look much better than Tunnincliffe at age of 18. Pereira is certainly most talented player around he reminds me of Nani, he can be great but also quite invisible at times, but he has got time and will up his game, van Gaal will see his talent. I was quite surprised with Rothwell and Lawrence. I absolutely wrote off Lawrence but he had outstanding loan spells which brought him back in the game but he is and never will be world class. I ddidn't see much of u18 or youngers but Micthell looked promising from YT clips and that 13yo Andre Gomez or what is his name, it is really hard to predict and judge players of that age cathegory but from some few clips he looked much ahead of schedule.

I think it shouldn't be and issue to find a at least one or two places for youngster a year. I don't think we should wait for only Januzajs to make it some hardworking youngsters can still make it even not world class talents but should be given chance and handled well over loans. There is obviously some problem with numbers in first team squad, if we got rid of the likes of Bebe, Young, Anderson, Hernandez or maybe fellaini and fletcher in the next few windows we could give youngsters more chances. There is also a huge "risk" in putting some youngsters in the side, we are not Southampton, we play for titles, so there is need for immidiate succes, so Fergie at the end of his reign didn't much trust youngsters and Moyes had troubles to handle the first team.. anyway I am convinced that it will change and be better in the future under van Gaal and his Seedorf-esque aproach.
 
Baby Faced Assassin said:
I would consider United's academy to be striving to be in the same category as Barcelona, Ajax, Bayern, etc.

I believe Fergie changed our youth system and so we got a good crop in 1994, why haven't we gotten more after that?

Look at Barca or Bayern for example, they consistently get quality players from their academy.
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Not sure about Germany, but the academy set up is quite different in Spain to how it is here.
 
Powell, Henriquez, Wilson, Periera and Lingard are all showing huge promise. Hopefully we will see them push on for a place pretty soon.
 
I haven't followed United youngsters since Morrison and Pogba's u18's teams either, i used to watch every u18 and reserve game then, since we lost them though, i just thought why am i wasting my time and what is our academy all about?

Ravel Morrison is the best talent I've ever seen, all talk of Barkley/Ox/Sterling/Wilshere i still think he's the best English talent out there.
 
Baby Faced Assassin said:
I would consider United's academy to be striving to be in the same category as Barcelona, Ajax, Bayern, etc.

I believe Fergie changed our youth system and so we got a good crop in 1994, why haven't we gotten more after that?

Look at Barca or Bayern for example, they consistently get quality players from their academy.
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The 90 minute rule existed for a while until 2011. This affected United because they could no longer get the best talent if they weren't within a 90 minutes radius. That's part of the reason.

As for Wilson, He's impressed me the most out of all the youngsters still at the club. He's probably just below Pogba, Ravel, Januzaj, and Daehli, but that's not a bad thing. Barring injuries, there is no one in the u18s or u21s that has his potential. The only piece of skill I haven't seen him do much of is heading. He strikes the ball as good as anyone and is brilliant at finishing. He can hold the ball up well. He can dribble with speed. Maybe not dribble like Januzaj, Daehli, Ravel, or Pogba as they have more technique, but he does do it with speed. He's shown 2-3 times this past year that he can dribble a long distance and get a goal at the end of his run. That's something he's done more than the 4 players I mentioned. You can't teach his speed.

The only thing I feel he needs to improve on is his movement. Towards the latter part of the season I felt he wasn't moving into the right spaces, but that could have just been for those few matches. Coincidentally it started at the same time he left the match due to his ankle injury. Before that I felt it was one of his strengths. I'm still convinced it's nothing to worry about.

His technique is certainly not bad or a weakpoint. If it was you wouldn't see him dribbling like he can and you wouldn't see him comfortably hold up the ball like he does. Obviously it's not at that elite level like what little we have seen of Origi, but not many strikers have that kind of technique. I can certainly see him getting 20-30 goals in the future, but it's not something you can be sure of obviously. A lot of things can offset a young player's development.

So to answer your question, Wilson can certainly be the next big thing. He's just not a "Cert" like Januzaj was.
 
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m1y2 said:
Wilson world-class prospect? I don't think so. He had a great season and I really believe in him he will become danny welbeck level IMO, Welbeck still has got a time to be great here. He won't be near Nistelrooy bracket but sill good enough to start. Comparing should stop comparing Wilson to Januzaj, he is not that good. Adnan was absolutely outstanding player wherever he played for reserves, Wilson is a great poacher and overally great but not as good as Januzaj who is potentially world class..
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I think you're overrating Januzaj's impact on the reserves. He was clearly always talented but he was played as a striker a lot of the time and didn't really shine that much. Wilson had far more of an impact in his half a season in the reserves than Januzaj, not that that means anything.

This thread is pretty depressing. We've got to the stage where even the really outstanding talents are now being put down for not being potential world class players. Why can't we just watch their development with interest rather than constantly making snap judgements about who won't make it?
 
SirFergie said:
Well you're wrong about Wilson for a start. He absolutely looks like he could be world class if he's developed the right way and steers clear of injuries. He's only 18 ffs. What makes you say that?
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I don't think theres anything wrong with thinking that. Theres been plenty of players who have looked good in our reserves and then done nothing at first team level (Tunnicliffe and Larnell Cole spring to mind of late). Also because he had a great debut doesnt mean hes gonna be world class (Macheda). I hope I'm wrong but I don't think he'll be good enough for United, we already have RVP and Rooney so theoretically he needs to be as good as them to break into the squad, which he's not. In todays game 18 isn't that young, Rooney was already an international at that age. Wilson will be good enough to be a premier league player, just not at United
 
Conrad said:
I think you're overrating Januzaj's impact on the reserves. He was clearly always talented but he was played as a striker a lot of the time and didn't really shine that much. Wilson had far more of an impact in his half a season in the reserves than Januzaj, not that that means anything.

This thread is pretty depressing. We've got to the stage where even the really outstanding talents are now being put down for not being potential world class players. Why can't we just watch their development with interest rather than constantly making snap judgements about who won't make it?
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They're not being put down per say, Most of our reserves will be good enough to play at a top level, its just when we look at them we have to look at them with United in mind. Will they be good enough to break into the team.

The sad thing is most won't be given a proper chance because so much rides on the teams performances. You can't really afford to risk young players in games anymore. I can't see it ever changing unless they bring in the "B" teams. that will give players a chance against first team players.
 
Jammydodger7 said:
They're not being put down per say, Most of our reserves will be good enough to play at a top level, its just when we look at them we have to look at them with United in mind. Will they be good enough to break into the team.

The sad thing is most won't be given a proper chance because so much rides on the teams performances. You can't really afford to risk young players in games anymore. I can't see it ever changing unless they bring in the "B" teams. that will give players a chance against first team players.
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I'm not seeing any reason here why you're forced to come out with decelerations about a player not making it at United when they're 18. Especially when the best reasoning you have is to acknowledge how extremely well he's done but then point to others who did similar and didn't kick on or people who'd already done more than him. All that means is he's not a certainty, as no one is, but it definitely doesn't mean he won't make it. Also, 18 is young. It has always been young and always will be young. The fact that a handful of players across the ages were first teamers then means nothing.

I just don't get the mentality where you see someone like Wilson have such an outstanding season and come away thinking "Yeah, I doubt he'll make it". It just seems like a pretty harrowing world view. Why not just wait and see what happens rather than convincing yourself they've got no chance?
 
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Obviously Januzaj, who just came out of our academy. Wilson will be a top striker if all goes well. Rothwell and Pearson I think could also be first team regulars, and I think Saidy Janko doesn't get enough credit on here. Won player of the year for us if I'm not mistaken.
 
It's very easy to spot the ones in this thread who know what they're talking about and the ones making stuff up as they go along.
 
m1y2 said:
Wilson world-class prospect? I don't think so. He had a great season and I really believe in him he will become danny welbeck level IMO, Welbeck still has got a time to be great here. He won't be near Nistelrooy bracket but sill good enough to start. Comparing should stop comparing Wilson to Januzaj, he is not that good. Adnan was absolutely outstanding player wherever he played for reserves, Wilson is a great poacher and overally great but not as good as Januzaj who is potentially world class..

I heard about and see some Goss performances, potentially new carrick, not world class, pearson a decent player but not world class talent potentially fletcher level in his prime even tho I think he is a little more talented. He still didn't impressed me as much as other people here. He doesn't look much better than Tunnincliffe at age of 18. Pereira is certainly most talented player around he reminds me of Nani, he can be great but also quite invisible at times, but he has got time and will up his game, van Gaal will see his talent. I was quite surprised with Rothwell and Lawrence. I absolutely wrote off Lawrence but he had outstanding loan spells which brought him back in the game but he is and never will be world class. I ddidn't see much of u18 or youngers but Micthell looked promising from YT clips and that 13yo Andre Gomez or what is his name, it is really hard to predict and judge players of that age cathegory but from some few clips he looked much ahead of schedule.

I think it shouldn't be and issue to find a at least one or two places for youngster a year. I don't think we should wait for only Januzajs to make it some hardworking youngsters can still make it even not world class talents but should be given chance and handled well over loans. There is obviously some problem with numbers in first team squad, if we got rid of the likes of Bebe, Young, Anderson, Hernandez or maybe fellaini and fletcher in the next few windows we could give youngsters more chances. There is also a huge "risk" in putting some youngsters in the side, we are not Southampton, we play for titles, so there is need for immidiate succes, so Fergie at the end of his reign didn't much trust youngsters and Moyes had troubles to handle the first team.. anyway I am convinced that it will change and be better in the future under van Gaal and his Seedorf-esque aproach.
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If you've seen much of Wilson apart from his first team game it's a bit strange to describe wilson as a poacher considering at least half of his goals last season were from dribbling through people or from shots from the edge of the box. It's also a bit strange to then go on and say pereira has got time to up his game considering he's only a month younger than Wilson. Wilson was every bit as outstanding for the reserves in the second half of last season As januzaj the season before and although januzaj may have had more influence in terms of getting on the ball and playmaking Wilson had by far the better end product and influenced more results and his goals dragged us through to the u21 playoffs. Wilson also did this while not fully fit and not even being able to train all the time due to injuries.
 
I hate when posters tend to pigeon hole youngsters. Just because Wilson is a good finisher doesn't necessarily mean he's a poacher. He's two footed and his overall game play has improved a lot. You'll see a lot more of him in the future.
 
jb8521 said:
If you've seen much of Wilson apart from his first team game it's a bit strange to describe wilson as a poacher considering at least half of his goals last season were from dribbling through people or from shots from the edge of the box. It's also a bit strange to then go on and say pereira has got time to up his game considering he's only a month younger than Wilson. Wilson was every bit as outstanding for the reserves in the second half of last season As januzaj the season before and although januzaj may have had more influence in terms of getting on the ball and playmaking Wilson had by far the better end product and influenced more results and his goals dragged us through to the u21 playoffs. Wilson also did this while not fully fit and not even being able to train all the time due to injuries.
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I used a bad word I meant he just can score goals. Credit to boy that he could play that well when not fully fit but this is another thing that could drag him back. I am not convinced by him being a world class prospect we will have to wait. As for Pereira I meant he has an advantage over the likes of Pearson and Rothwell, even they surpassed him he is one year younger and with his talent he can make it if he gets back on track. This is my opinion from what I´ve seen. This year I watched only an half of the matches I did the season before when I didn't miss much of u21 action and couple of u18. So I may be mistaken in some of my judgements..
 
Baby Faced Assassin said:
Unfortunately haven't gotten the time to follow the United youth teams as much as I would want to recently.

Last time I followed we had players like Pogba, Morrison and we won the FA Youth Cup.

Any particular players that we have in our youth teams that have gone under the radar and could be the next big thing.

I know of players like Jesse Lingard, James Wilson, Will Keane, etc. but none look like potential world class players that our academy should be rightfully producing.

In particular do we have anything promising coming in central midfield or central defense where Van Gaal can look to promote from within?
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Januzaj? ;)

-You're wrong about Wilson, who is very much a potentially world class player.
-Pearson.
-Some actually rate Rothwell higher than Pearson. I don't, but if his ceiling is anywhere near Pearson's then he belongs in this list too.
-Pereira has the ability, but not the attitude at the moment. Touch of Nani about him in that sense.
-Harrop, I think, although I expect him to be a slightly slow bloomer.
 
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