Manchester United changing youngster policy throughout club
A change for the better?
Transcript
00:00 Michael, you've recently written an article regarding Man United's youngsters and their
00:05 policy regarding selling them and how they're going about it, sort of copying the likes
00:10 of Manchester City and Chelsea, how they've sort of gone about it over the last few years.
00:15 This is the sort of modern way of doing things now.
00:18 What can you sort of tell us about that?
00:20 Yeah, well, I think for years there's been a thought that, I don't know, United, let's
00:25 say that if you stockpile your ten best young players, one, two, potentially are going to
00:33 push on and go and be really good players, but you might lose out on eight who don't.
00:37 And I think for years, United weren't alone in this, that this was a thought that this
00:40 is basically the best way to conduct your policy in terms of youth players.
00:44 But there's been a real shift in that in the last couple of years.
00:46 I think Chelsea and Manchester City have been at the forefront of that in terms of selling
00:51 youngsters.
00:52 I mean, Manchester City made just over 10 million last summer on Romelu Lavia.
00:57 They're probably going to make another 12 million on him this summer.
01:00 This is a player who didn't, I don't think, has actually played a single Premier League
01:04 minute for Manchester City, but they're going to earn about, they've got to 25 million in
01:08 him.
01:09 And it's that type of model.
01:10 Then City put that money into senior transfers, and that basically covers Mateo Kovacic's
01:16 transfer from Chelsea.
01:17 So when you think about it in that regard, they almost see it as a, I don't really like
01:21 to talk about human beings in this way, but they're almost viewed as business assets rather
01:25 than potential players who are going to come through.
01:28 I think both United and City, if there's a real top class talent, they're not just going
01:33 to sell them.
01:34 If they really feel that this player has the potential to come in and add value to the
01:37 first team, United aren't going to consider selling the same as Chelsea, or sorry, the
01:40 same as City.
01:41 I mean, Rico Lewis is an example from City.
01:43 I mean, Kobe Mayonaise is an example from United.
01:45 So it's an interesting one because I think for a long time, United have lagged behind
01:49 the top clubs in terms of their selling.
01:51 At senior level and at youth level, I think they still do lag behind, if I'm totally honest.
01:55 But there is an indication and an understanding, I think, from United that they haven't always
02:01 handled things brilliantly in the past, and that that needs to change.
02:04 And I think that there has been signs of that.
02:06 I think it was sort of last summer, a little bit, with James Garner moving on, Tahiti Chong
02:09 moving on.
02:10 Both players had a buyback clause and a sell-on attached into the deals to Everton and Birmingham.
02:16 And then I was really surprised at the start of this summer that United decided to let
02:19 Zidane Balgo.
02:20 I was told that there was a very good chance he was going to go on loan.
02:22 There was a small chance of him going out permanently.
02:25 And then within a week of me covering that story, he'd gone permanently, which I think
02:28 is, as I say, a real change from United in that sense.
02:32 And they view him as a player who was a very good player.
02:35 And he's a player, I should mention, Iqbal, who trained with United's first team all season,
02:39 was in the squad, I think, 17 times.
02:41 We all thought, right, he's on the verge of making a step up, being involved in the first
02:44 team.
02:45 And I think five years ago, United would have kept this player.
02:47 Instead, now they decide, no, we're going to sell.
02:49 And for not a huge price now, but they're hoping to reap the rewards of that further
02:53 down the line.
02:54 So that's a really interesting transfer in my eyes, a really kind of change from previous
02:59 years.
03:00 And I think the same happened with Charlie Savage this summer.
03:05 I think Ethan Laird as well.
03:06 There's a couple of players, Kovar, who joined Bayer Leverkusen.
03:10 So yeah, it's a really interesting approach from United.
03:12 And I think that we won't see the benefits of this immediately.
03:15 But I think further down the line, it could be a really interesting shift from them.
03:18 I'm interested to see how it goes in the next couple of years.