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Manchester United have missed out on some of the most exciting young players in world football as of late and it is something that must change.
Since the new owners have come into the club, they have focused a lot on scouting young talent and have already made some signings such as James Overy and Silva Mexes Tyler-Earnshaw.
The Red Devils have also been linked to a plethora of targets across the world including an increased presence in South America as they aim to snap up more talent from the continent.
According to The Athletic, United already have a very sophisticated system for scouting players as they use a database known as TrackerMan, which is a collection of information of thousands of potential targets across the world.
One advantage the side from Old Trafford already have is “the breadth and depth of the information at United’s fingertips is impressive, fed by an army of approximately 160 scouts working either full or part-time.”
“Ashworth will find himself at the head of a recruitment operation that has eyes everywhere.”
Although, despite the rare success story like Alejandro Garnacho, these advantages have not been utilised as players have been missed out on time and time again and this is a wrong that Ineos will need to right.
Lyndon Tomlinson, who was United’s assistant head of academy recruitment between 2017 and 2021, claimed that he ultimately left his role as he “was getting frustrated that we were doing reports, I was travelling here, there and everywhere, (and) studying lots of video during Covid. We were making recommendations and then there was just nothing really happening.”
The Athletic goes into detail on numerous players that United have scouted, been aware of, but failed to get a deal over the line for various reasons. Four of the most striking names are those of Pedro Neto, Jamal Musiala, Benjamin Sesko and Moises Caicedo.
Neto has since moved to the Premier League and made a name for himself at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he has been linked to numerous top teams including United.
Whilst at Braga, the 17 year old “Neto was invited to visit United’s Carrington training base and took in an academy match at Leigh Sports Village.”
United would only have had to pay a nominal training compensation fee and the recruitment staff pushed for a deal but the club inexplicably failed to pull the trigger and he signed a new deal with the Portuguese outfit before moving to Wolves at a later date.
Musiala has been one of the stars of Euro 2024 for Germany, as he is the joint top scorer at the tournament on three goals.
Frustratingly though, he could have been weaving the same magic at Old Trafford had United been braver.
“In March 2018, United were offered the chance to take Jamal Musiala on trial, with the then-15-year-old’s exit from Chelsea on the agenda.”
The Red Devils had watched him at training camps with Germany and had decided he was the best player but complications connected to the deal meant that they ultimately decided getting into a deal would be too risky.
What’s more “in 2018, United received word that Red Bull Salzburg had offered €2 million for the Slovenian striker, Sesko.”
The Old Trafford outfit had only sanctioned a bid of €1 million and when director of football negotiations Matt Judge got involved, he revised the offer to a paltry €1.1m. Naturally, the talented striker, who is now valued at around €65 million, moved to the Austrian side.
Caicedo is another famous case of a player whose deal was deemed too complex to complete but he would move to Ashworth’s Brighton shortly after and was sold to Chelsea last summer for a mammoth £115 million.
All teams miss out on youth players and United will continue to do so. What must change is the reasons why and dilly dallying that has allowed so many top youngsters to slip through their grasp.
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