There is no secret that Manchester United are much more interested these days in young, emerging talent than look out for established stars. Sir Alex has built his ManU dynasty based on youth with likes of David Beckham, Scholes, Giggs and Neville brothers.
The war chest that Sir Alex Ferguson has at his disposal is obviously being used to purchase younger players like Lindegaard and Bebe, players who possess a future, and perhaps more importantly for the Glazer’s, who know there will be profit if they choose
to sell.
But there is a real need for Manchester United to be purchasing the highest quality, and with that, the highest paid players on the planet. When Sir Alex brought in the likes of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo they were both still very young and underdeveloped,
now they are two of the world’s finest. Ronaldo has since moved on to Real Madrid in Spain but Rooney, if we exclude current form, is one of established stars.
The youngsters now coming through the ranks of Old Trafford are finding many more opportunities to play in the first eleven than their predecessors would have done five or six years ago. With that being the case, their development is on a much higher plateau
than what it would have been had Sir Alex gone ahead and purchased three or four stars from the World Cup this summer.
We could look at the case of Dimitar Berbatov, who was highly rated and was at top of his game whilst at Tottenham Hotspur. United paid around £30m for him at the time but his value is dropping. He is not having much impact on the pitch of late and there
is not many years left for improvement there.
On the other hand we could look at the likes of Bebe and Obertan, still very young and perhaps a touch expensive for their age. Both players should continue to get opportunities at first team level for Manchester United.
The biggest issue of younger talent is the risk. When a manager pays out a big amount, and let’s assume £10m for a player between 18-21, it is considered a gamble, even if you have the best scouts on the case, there is still a chance that the player will
not develop as expected, with that comes the risk that the value will not go further than the initial investment. A good example of this is Tosic who many had high expectations for, but he just did not develop into a Manchester United player.
The future of United looks to be in good hands where players are concerned and despite a sticky start to the Premiership, already find themselves joint top.
Sir Alex will tell you himself that the team is yet to hit their peak, but other teams are falling whilst United fight out wins despite some slightly poor displays. The time may come for Manchester United to purchase one or two established stars but that
will take a player of some quality for Sir Alex to be persuaded.
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