In before Matth starts a whole new thread.... So B-J's off to Wolves on loan for the season. Not a bad move, as he would be behind Shaw on the left and competing with Valencia, Darmian and F-M on the right. But I hoped he would get a move to a PL club, although arguably the only one whose current full back is **** enough is Liverpool. Interesting fact - despite B-J playing at left back most of last season, he is actually a centre back by trade. Another LVG masterstroke. So maybe he will be a long term partner to Baiiiii
Just waiting for the cries of 'Jose won't give our young players a chance'.................... Some people simply don't understand that Jose can only play 11 men at a time from a squad of 23. Natural rotation will take place during the course of the season due to fixture congestion, injuries etc, but the best option for the young players on the fringe of the first-team squad is to go out on loan and to play competitive, regular football rather than just train endlessly or play in the less competitive youth leagues. In time, if they continue to show promise, they will be brought back to OT and will be given the chance to step up.
I'd rather Rojo had gone out on loan to Wolves tbh. What happens if Shaw gets an injury. Does Young come in? I think we're leaving ourselves a bit light.
Blind can cover when Smalling is fit to come in at CB, and F-M can play anywhere across the back so I think we are well stocked in the full back dept, and defence in general. Also we have a recall option on B-J, so we can bring him back if Shaw does get injured. But better to have him getting games rather than sitting on the bench waiting for an injury - he wouldn't have played last season had there not been injuries.
He played at LB though last season because even LVG could see he was more reliable defensively than Rojo and offered more going forward. We're in 4 competitions, I think he could have got quite a bit of game time outside the Prem. I'm not knocking him going out on loan, as long as there's an end game of him coming back to United and not sold off.
It's being reported he's being loaned out for development and does have a future. And whilst we're in four competitions we do still have Smalling, Baiiiii, Blind, Valencia, Darmian, Shaw, F-M and Jones (if ever fit) as defenders with Rojo and Young as backup - more than that and we risk having no consistency if we are trying to give everyone game time. And as I said before, he's primarily a CB so him being used to fill in at full back won't be the best for his development, unless we are turning him into another Wes Brown. I'd hope he gets to play CB at Wolves and comes back as a tougher player, as he looks a bit lightweight at the moment. That way we'll have Baiiii, B-J, F-M and Shaw as a long term option for the back four.
Tyler Blackett has been sold to Reading on a permanent feal Am a bit gutted about this, the lad is good enough for a mid Prem team IMHO.
A permanent feel? That's disgusting! Goes back to your other thread Diego, about selling outgoing players to what seems to be the first interested party regardless.
Didn't rate Blackett that highly tbh - he put in some decent performances a couple of years back, but was always at risk of giving away dangerous fouls and making mistakes. Don't think he'd be more than a bit part player at a Prem team, but has a good chance of gaining a starting berth at Reading. As for the fees, I think there's method in the madness there - we've always been seen as a club that will either bring a young player through to the first team or find them the right club to move to regardless of fee. I think it makes us a better prospect for young players, rather than a club who relies on selling young players for profit and thus will delay moves and base in on which club gives us the most money even if the player won't get much of a chance there. Just look at Rashford - City were all over him and promising to build a team around him, much closer to where he lived, but he chose to come to us. I'd like to think that wasn't just because we gave him a better chance of making it, but also because of the record we have in helping young players find success after Utd even if they don't make it here. If we started hanging out clubs that would pay for a million or two more when transferring young players we might lose that reputation, and recruitment could suffer as a result, which isn't really worth it imo.
Had the makings of a good player, but too error prone to pin down a starting PL place imo. As you say, I think a move will do him good, and if it's best for the player then it's best for our youth recruitment in the long term.
I agree, if he is good enough then he'll get in the Reading team and maybe move back to the PL in the future. No point him staying with you lot he simply wouldn't play.
Apparently Blackett was terrible for Celtic last season. So much so that he made 3 (three) appearances in the SPL which is a comically **** league.
For £2M as well apparently - that is ridiculously low considering what you sold McNair and Love for so shows how little Mouriniho thinks of him. Is a rumour that Arsenal would bid for him as well...
