United hope to seal deal for 15-year-old Ajax starlet Juan Familia-Castillo

Maradona10

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Manchester United are hopeful of closing a deal for highly-rated Ajax prospect Juan Familia-Castillo.

The teenager has been closely followed by United since last year and they watched him playing for Holland U15s against Belgium. He has developed further in that time and they now want to bring him to Old Trafford.

Castillo, who turns 16 in January, is captain of Holland's U16s and can play centre midfield or on the left.

He plays regularly for Ajax U17s and has also played in a more advanced role with an eye for goal. The left-footed Castillo also has the ability to spot a good pass and has good technique.

United are also pressing ahead with discussions to sign United States youth international Matthew Olosunde.

The New York Red Bulls academy defender has been training with United on and off since the summer and they are preparing to offer him a contract subject to work permits and international clearance.

The 17-year-old from Trenton, New Jersey, can play at centre-back but has impressed staff at right-back.
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I think its unfair on youth systems of ajax etc if we are able to steal their players away. I can see the sense though, it would be cheaper and also if you unearth a superstar or even a good first team player, you will be credited with it. Also HG rules can be bent this way.

@khoazany @jb852 have you heard anything about these two?
 
Unfair? Clubs in Holland are quite good at recruiting talent from all over the place. Until a player signs a professional contract he'll free to choose where to go. There's no saying he will just because there's interest in him.
 
Maradona10 said:
I think its unfair on youth systems of ajax etc if we are able to steal their players away. I can see the sense though, it would be cheaper and also if you unearth a superstar or even a good first team player, you will be credited with it. Also HG rules can be bent this way.
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It's partly their fault.Particularly in Fosu-Mensah and Dilsorun (Man City)'s case they refused to offer them new contract at 16 (normal youngsters are offered at 17 but they can offer one at 16 if they really want).Though the person responsible for that debacle already gone so I can see some changes in their approach for their upcoming groups.

Familia-Castillo is a special talent and Holland's best 2000 born talent.Of course if we can lure that calibre of talents away from their clubs we should do all what we can to get them.Still Familia-Castillo's situation is different from Fosu-Mensah that he's playing ahead of his age group for Ajax so would be a much trickier situation for us.

We have extensively scouted Castillo for a while along with Redan who is 2001 born and play up a year for Holland U16s.

Gomes - Castillo would be an interesting combo to see in the U18s next season if we can get him.
 
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About Olosunde we should have already signed him in the summer but couldn't close the deal on time before the deadline passed.I would guess it's partly the reason why we signed Thomas Sang.
 
khoazany said:
It's partly their fault.Particularly in Fosu-Mensah and Dilsorun (Man City)'s case they refused to offer them new contract at 16 (normal youngsters are offered at 17 but they can offer one at 16 if they really want).Though the person responsible for that debacle already gone so I can see some changes in their approach for their upcoming groups.

Familia-Castillo is a special talent and Holland's best 2000 born talent.Of course if we can lure that calibre of talents away from their clubs we should do all what we can to get them.Still Familia-Castillo's situation is different from Fosu-Mensah that he's playing ahead of his age group for Ajax so would be a much trickier situation for us.

We have extensively scouted Castillo for a while along with Redan who is 2001 born and play up a year for Holland U16s.

Gomes - Castillo would be an interesting combo to see in the U18s next season if we can get him.
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Thanks for the info, can always count on you to provide the inside scoop on these players. Do you think we can get him?
 
As far as I know the deal for Olosunde is already agreed and wasn't pushed through in the Summer because he was part of the USA under 17's residency program so would have been away for a long time with them as they were preparing for the u17 World Cup
 
Maradona10 said:
Thanks for the info, can always count on you to provide the inside scoop on these players. Do you think we can get him?
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Yes if we have better personnel in charge.We have screwed up quite a few youth deals in recent years.
 
jb8521 said:
As far as I know the deal for Olosunde is already agreed and wasn't pushed through in the Summer because he was part of the USA under 17's residency program so would have been away for a long time with them as they were preparing for the u17 World Cup
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khoazany said:
Yes if we have better personnel in charge.We have screwed up quite a few youth deals in recent years.
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Cheers! Hope we can get a new head of academy soon.
 
Drifter said:
Juan Familia-Castillo

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The video didn't really tell much.
But the skill against the goalie and in that second to last clip....holy feck! :lol: The latter one in particular was an improved version of Berba's trick in regards to the place on the field and the timing. :eek:
 
Maradona10 said:
I think its unfair on youth systems of ajax etc if we are able to steal their players away. I can see the sense though, it would be cheaper and also if you unearth a superstar or even a good first team player, you will be credited with it. Also HG rules can be bent this way.

@khoazany @jb852 have you heard anything about these two?
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If City can do it to us we can do it to others.
 
So far pretty much all Dutch talents that moved to premiership academies have flopped. It's much harder to break in to a first team here. Most of these kids don't have a wealthy background and their families can't resist the move for the fast money, even it means taking a hug gamble on their further career. I doubt Blind would have made the first team if he had made the move at 16. Sad but that's modern football.
 
And it appears we lost out on this lad to Chelsea.

The presence of Hiddink, and the alleged uncertainty with United's youth set up, was said to be the main reasons for the change of heart over signing for United.
 
berbatrick said:
It looks like Tony Pulis is coaching the Ajax youth team. What's with the hoofball? Isn't Cryuff supposed to be in charge?
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I was thinking that too, and the video was naff. Nothing to get excited about. Just like a bunch of kids playing on a park. You could put razzy dance music to videos of me washing the dishes and I'd look like the future of cutting edge entrepreneurialism.
 
Skizzo said:
And it appears we lost out on this lad to Chelsea.

The presence of Hiddink, and the alleged uncertainty with United's youth set up, was said to be the main reasons for the change of heart over signing for United.
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Urgh.

Why would the presence of Hiddink matter more than the presence of LVG?
 
Good luck being loaned out for the next 6 seasons, then ending your career at a second division Greek team kid.

I have no idea why any young player would want to go to Chelsea. Even Man City have a better track record, and they've only practically become relevant for less than a decade.
 
Irrational. said:
Good luck being loaned out for the next 6 seasons, then ending your career at a second division Greek team kid.

I have no idea why any young player would want to go to Chelsea. Even Man City have a better track record, and they've only practically become relevant for less than a decade.
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The, they have a very good track record of doing some early development and then sending them off on very good loans and/or selling them without hindrance.
 
Now Chelsea have signed him that's Juan player we won't be getting Familia with any time soon.
 
I don't think his decision has anything to do with our situation. Sounds like someone added that bit to get reactions of United fans which seems to be working.
 
Skizzo said:
Could just have been a bit of paper talk to gets gums flapping about something. They apparently offered "better incentives" to Ajax also.
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Possibly. But I do think that there must be some genuine problems for there to be so much talk of there being genuine problems in our youth system. I mean, it's not exactly the sexiest topic in the world either.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Possibly. But I do think that there must be some genuine problems for there to be so much talk of there being genuine problems in our youth system. I mean, it's not exactly the sexiest topic in the world either.
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This is probably to do with us being a bit stingy in negotiation, which is probably handled by people like club secretary John Alexander.No need to put the whole "youth system" into the debate.Been talking with some of the parents about some of the articles related to the youth system and most of the reactions are "that article is rubbish" which pretty much sum up how good these articles are at the first place.There are some issues with the academy but I'm getting fed up with the clear agenda in the media these days.
 
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