Our inability to develop youth in this country is becoming a topic of increasingly painful debate. Too many clubs simply don’t have the required calibre of footballer within their academy systems, but what is frustrating for a club like Manchester United is their apparent ability to let their very best young stars leave.
The Premier League club seem to have had a wealth of young stars in their youth system; many of which should by now have graduated and made it at the highest level. In fact many of these players are making it at the highest level, just not at Manchester United. A club that now appear to be stretched in the post-Ferguson era, where has this pool of talent to fall back on gone?
Gerard Pique and Paul Pogba are two of the bigger names among a clutch of talents to leave the Theatre of Dreams in recent years. Current star Patrice Evra has already voiced his own concerns at this worrying pattern emerging at his club, discussing the Pogba sale:
“His [Pogba’s] talent on the pitch, his aggression, his presence, is very rare,” Evra said in an interview with French TV station TF1.
“He very quickly earned the respect of players like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. It’s true that have you have to win over the manager too, but to have won the dressing room like he did [was impressive]. It was truly a huge loss when he left the club.”
In most cases players have left because of a lack of first team opportunity, with Ferguson ultimately preferring to play second string players as cover rather than a potential future star. This phenomenon seems ridiculous, how can a club like Juventus who arguably have a stronger squad be able to incorporate Pogba and United not?
United are beginning to look foolish as the players they let slip fast begin to realise their potential. With a pair of ageing centre halves, how the Manchester club would now yearn for a Gerard Pique back at their disposal now.
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The problem may be stark at United, but it is a worrying trend emerging at a number of top English clubs. Too often we are content to play experienced players out of position rather than give youth a chance, a decision we may soon live to regret.
With youth players the nature of their contracts mean that clubs must impress players as much they the must the club. Many of the stars to exit Old Trafford have been for nominal sums towards the end of players’ contracts, owing to fallouts and general disagreements in many cases. Pogba voiced his discontent in a recent interview with TF1 stating a 3-2 defeat to Blackburn was really the final straw:
“I said to Ferguson: ‘Play me, and I will show you if I’m ready or not.’
“Against Blackburn, on December 31, 2011, I was on the bench. Ferguson puts Rafael in midfield with Ji Sung Park. Then I gave up. I was really bummed.”
For all his successes Ferguson in his later years was rarely the great cultivator of talent that United needed, often much too content with what he had already than to look towards the future. You could call him shortsighted towards the end, and in David Moyes they may well again have a manager who is frustratingly averse to youth development.
Everton fans will often harp on about Moyes’ inability to bring through youth; often happy to play with the experience he has rather than to go out on a limb for a younger talent. The meteoric rise of Ross Barkley is as much down to the change in manager as it is in the player himself, a serious worry for United fans hoping for something different going forward.
Fans may well have been frustrated with the lack of summer spending and seemingly directionless approach to the market. That said for me this issue of youth development is a much more concerning one. Pundits have suggested United are maybe 3 or 4 players short of where they should be to challenge both domestically and continentally. If they still had the likes of Pique, Pogba, Morrison and to a lesser extent Fryers the spotlight may have been a lot less intense.
This doesn’t look like a pattern that will be radically changed anytime soon, the likes of Nick Powell and Wilfried Zaha still appear a long way from first team opportunity and unless something can be done they risk the same future as many of their predecessors.
Will United buck the trend of releasing their pool of prodigious talents?
Let us know what you think in the comments
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