Can new Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal afford to blood homegrown players rather than buying experienced players from other clubs? When ex-Liverpool pundit Alan Hansen tried to convince the world that Manchester United would not be able to win anything with kids, Fergie’s Fledglings made him eat his words. The Class of ’92 showed that this can be done, and with Eric Cantona at the fulcrum, a great Manchester United team for the future was built. In fact, it is something of a tradition at United to blood youngsters into first team football ever since the days of the late great Sir Matt Busby, who famously said: “If you don’t put them in, you can’t know what they’ve got!” Innuendos aside, Sir Matt reared the Busby Babes, who gathered an immense reputation across Europe. Some say Duncan Edwards could have been the greatest player in the world had tragedy not struck Flight 609 from Munich. Sir Alex Ferguson excavated this philosophy from the ruins of the club’s architecture about four decades later, when he introduced David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, and the Neville brothers in to the United first team. It was a time when a massive overhaul was needed. Experienced players were sold and youth was preferred. It came to be known as one of the turning points in the club’s history. Ferguson was known to be a strict disciplinarian from his early days and was left bemused at the cavalier attitude of the senior players. In his opinion, the players were drinking a lot, turning up for training late and this affected the way he wanted his team to play. Ferguson made a decision and turned to his youth players, who grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Louis van Gaal is at a similar crossroads today. The imperious United side that won five Premier League titles out of a possible eight since 2006, has been dismantled. Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, the bedrock of that United side have been sold, and a new era of football begins at the club under the Dutch tactician. It is at moments like these when forward thinking clubs like United have brought in the winds of change. If history is to be followed, this is the moment when a United team for the future should be blooded. Van Gaal has started pre-season with a new 3-4-1-2 system, and has achieved considerable early success through it, against the likes of Inter, Roma and European champions Real Madrid. This is a new system that is going to take a lot of bedding time for player who will have to learn this system and way of playing. And what better time than this, to bring in youngsters who will be eager to learn and be more receptive to memorizing a new way of playing. The current United manager himself has stressed on the importance of youth in his methods, citing examples of previous clubs where he pushed youth players into the first team, which is paying rich dividends now. It was Van Gaal who had brought Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Thiago Motta and Victor Valdes into the Barcelona first team — players who went on to become the spine of one of the greatest ever football sides in history. At Bayern Munich, Van Gaal gave first team opportunities to Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and David Alaba. It is Van Gaal’s style to pick the best learners at a club and plan for the future. While clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG, Barcelona and Arsenal have already bought big name players for this season, Van Gaal, a firm believer in youth, has been biding his time, studying his players and analyzing if the talent he needs is already within the youth system. The pre-season tour to the United States has seen Van Gaal tinker the squad with young players. Tyler Blackett was seen at left centre back, Sam Johnstone in goal, Michael Keane at right centre back, Reece James as a left winger and surprisingly, Wilfried Zaha as a striker against Inter Milan, who, even more surprisingly gave the manager a lot to think by being a handful for the Inter defence that had former United legend Nemanja Vidic in it. Van Gaal has been impressed with Blackett and Keane in particular, and might try out a few more youngsters like James Wilson, Ben Pearson and Will Keane in the matches to come. But is it really feasible for United to go for youth this season? By Van Gaal’s own admission, he usually struggles for the first three months with a new team, after which results start to show. This means United will not get into full throttle before November 2015. Add to this the inexperience of picking a young team to play and United may not be able to perform to expectations before half the season has finished. Against the backdrop of Van Gaal’s exploits comes the Manchester United board’s warning that United simply cannot afford to miss out on a Champions League qualification for a second consecutive year. Their lucrative new kit deal with Adidas could well suffer a penalty of 23 million pounds, a 30% reduction in revenues, should Van Gaal be unable to guide United to a top four finish. And with Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal strengthening the squad, it starts to look an uphill task for United even before a ball has been kicked. Perhaps Van Gaal’s first pragmatic priority should then be to ensure he gets enough ready-made players into the squad that would fit his system and hit the ground running when the season begins. This means that signing players like Arturo Vidal, already familiar with a 3-5-2 system at Juventus, should be Van Gaal’s priority. And while he has been impressed with Blackett and Michael Keane, a world class centre back is definitely the need of the hour. Van Gaal is probably aware of this, but is bravely taking stock of the options he has before he decides to splurge on outside talent. He has declared he is only interested in signing players that fit his system. As he once said, “I don’t need 11 best. I need the best 11.” This is perhaps the reason why, even with Angel Di Maria available, Van Gaal will prefer to mould Ashley Young into his system, who is more likely to track back as a winger. It will be interesting to see if Van Gaal immediately puts his faith in the youth players or not. Going by his strong personality and philosophy, we might see the likes of Reece James, Tyler Blackett and James Wilson given a more primary role in the first team, with a couple of players being bought from outside to help achieve the minimum top four finish expected of United. The Dutchman could usher in a new era for the club, and this youth team could go on to form a Manchester United team that is built for the future.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 06:43:05 +0000
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