da betobet： The question is often asked if Jose Mourinho invests enough time in youth. Many say that he spends his clubs’ money on big name players instead of young prospects, but my question is: can Manchester United rely on their youth players to continue the success of the club?
da cassino： Over the summer transfer window, Mourinho brought in four big name players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba and these players, in recent weeks, have shown why they are worth the big money. Mkhitaryan’s recent good form, Ibrahimovic’s 17 goals in all competitions, Pogba’s powerful, all-around presence – including three assists for team-mate Zlatan – and Bailly’s encouraging start, before his injury all illustrate why the ‘Special One’ wanted them.
However, the average age of these players is 27 (26.75). Although this is increased by Ibrahimovic (35), it is not the first time Manchester United have had a high average age of players being brought in, last season 2015/16, the average age was 25 (24.5), including Anthony Martial and Matteo Darmian. This system of buying players at their peak is a real problem for Manchester United’s youth development.
However, the common argument with the system, of buying players in their prime is that if you want to be the best club you must have the best players at the time. Top clubs are reliant on money being poured in to try and win the league and to achieve their money back on expenses for these names.
However, Manchester United have had consecutive seasons where they have not contested for the title and personally I believe the idea of quick fixes, through buying players who either were considered the best or in their decline, needs to stop and a better system would be to welcome younger players into the first-team.
The idea of buying players at their peak must be a real worry for their youth system. Are youth players going to want to be part of Manchester United if they see players like Ibrahimovic coming to take vacant positions? Marcus Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are both players who, last season, gained great experience by playing in many matches for Manchester United, yet this year the former has only had a handful of starts and the latter has been forgotten.
Now, of course, Fosu-Mensah and Rashford have their flaws when compared to players like Ibrahimovic and Bailly but they are only 19 and 18 and have plenty of time to fix these and improve as players. The system has also been shown to negatively impact younger players at Manchester United such as Adnan Januzaj and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, who are young promising players forced out on loan just to get games.
So how does this answer the question: can Manchester United rely on their youth players to continue the success of the club?
Overall, with the system they are running now, the answer is no. If Manchester United wish to be a club well known for having a young and exciting team they need to give their youngsters a chance to prove themselves over a prolonged period.
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