Torben Aakjær - Our new scout!

[Ringo 07]

Manchester United Official Web Site - Every single Manchester United transfer rumour of summer 2011

From Bold.dk in Denmark. Torben Aakjær reveals he is leaving Hamburg to scout for the Reds instead. "I cannot say much about it yet," he stresses. "But it's a great and very exciting challenge."

He must be a pretty handy as a scout. Unfashionable Hamburg have signed young players with lots of potential that get sold for bigger fees like VDV, Elia, De Jong, Van Buyten, Kompany etc

 

[MPTutd]

Manchester United Official Web Site - Every single Manchester United transfer rumour of summer 2011


He must be a pretty handy as a scout. Unfashionable Hamburg have signed young players with lots of potential that get sold for bigger fees like VDV, Elia, De Jong, Van Buyten, Kompany etc

Hardly unknown players.

 

[Ringo 07]

Hardly unknown players.

In what part did I say unknown players?

 

[Eriku]

In what part did I say unknown players?

In this bit:

He must be a pretty handy as a scout. Unfashionable Hamburg have signed young unknown players with lots of potential that get sold for bigger fees like VDV, Elia, De Jong, Van Buyten, Kompany etc

 

[Mickey]

In this bit:

1-0 Eriku

 

[Cold_Boy]

So we noted the brilliant pool of talent coming out of Germany recently.

 

[Ringo 07]

In this bit:

Genius. Well done

 

[Eriku]

Genius. Well done

Can't take too much credit, I don't think I invented fake quotations.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Hardly unknown players.

Were they well known when Hamburg signed them?

 

[FlawlessThaw]

Were they well known when Hamburg signed them?

Most were fairly well known to be fair such as VDV, Van Buyten, Kompany and De Jong. None were unknown signings of the Hernandez variety.

 

[AVARiCE]

Were they well known when Hamburg signed them?

Yeah that's what I thought OP meant, too.

In answer to the question, not particularly. The players had begun to make names for themselves at best. Hamburg did well to sign the players before others jumped in if you want to give them the least credit at all. In reality, they gave most of these players a chance in a better league and a the opportunity for them to kick on.

I can't think of any relevant comparisons right now, unfortunately, apart from what Villa did with Young. Young's profile was much higher than the names mentioned, but Villa bought him young and gave him a chance in a team with a solid base. The rest is history.

 

[Anduin]

Surprisingly enough Hamburg got most of the players mentioned above for very little money in comparison. Transfer fees, all figures in Euros:

VDV (Ajax): 5m (sold for 15m to Real Madrid)
De Jong (Ajax): 1,5m (sold for 17m to Manchester City)
Van Buyten (Marseille): 3,5m (sold for 8m to Bayern Munich)
Kompany (Anderlecht): 10m (sold for 9m to Manchester City)

Elia for 9m was an average piece of business so far, he hasn't done much at Hamburg yet. I'd say getting VDV for 5m was a masterstroke, still not sure how they managed to do so back in those days.
Selling De Jong for 17m to City six months before his contract expired was amazing as well, but hey that's City for you


On a sidenote Kompany really has done well for himself over the last couple of years. Has been touted as potential world-class for ages, even back in his Anderlecht days... and now he is a monster-defender, certainly one of the best three centre-backs in the league IMHO.