carlyluvsunited
04-11-2007, 03:31 AM
Alex Ferguson happy his investment in youth is paying off
Not much stirs on planet football without capturing the notice of Sir Alex
Ferguson, particularly when it comes to spotting the latest emerging talents. An
extensive network of scouts ensure that the Manchester United manager is kept
abreast of the young players who promise to dominate the sport long after he
has left Old Trafford, but, as he looks at Cesc Fàbregas orchestrating the Arsenal
midfield this lunchtime, he will acknowledge that this was one gem that not so
much slipped through the net but evaded it completely.
“No, I wasn’t aware of him when he was at Barcelona,” Ferguson said at United’s
training ground yesterday. “Maybe my scouts were, but I wasn’t. Arsenal moved
very quickly there.”
Indeed, having caught the eye of Arsenal scouts while playing for Barcelona’s
youth team, Fàbregas was on his way to London shortly after his 16th birthday,
with the Catalan club receiving only a six-figure sum as compensation. It was the
same summer that Ferguson began his rebuilding programme at Old Trafford by
signing players such as Eric Djemba Djemba, Kléberson and David Bellion,
although he also, rather more memorably, bought an 18-year-old winger from
Sporting Lisbon. Three years on, Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly a world-class
performer, but, in contrast to Fàbregas, he cost United a fee of £12.24 million.
Investing in youth is a precarious business and, while Ferguson is entitled to feel
that Ronaldo, Anderson, Nani, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tévez are at the very
least the equal of Fàbregas et al, there is a significant difference. Those five
players cost United a projected total of £86 million – and they do not even “own”
Tévez – whereas Arsenal picked up Kolo Touré for £350,000, Gaël Clichy for
£250,000, Emmanuel Eboué and Mathieu Flamini for £1.5 million apiece, Robin
van Persie for £3 million, Emmanuel Adebayor for £4 million and, best of all,
Fàbregas for a meagre compensation payment.
Ferguson talked yesterday of having identified Nani as a potential signing at the
age of 16, at the same he time bought Ronaldo. “A judgment is made over a
period,” he said. “It’s not a quick decision. When you are spending big money on
a teenager, you’ve got to be sure of certain things.”
Arsenal, though, move more decisively and with more certainty than the rest.
Some of their teenagers, such as Denilson and Theo Walcott, have still to prove
their worth – and they, coincidentally, are the two who cost most – but both are
equipped to go a long way in the game, as are Alexandre Song, Abou Diaby and
Nicklas Bendtner, among others. For such a small outlay, it is an astonishing haul,
one for which Wenger can thank his extensive scouting network, particularly in
France and in the Ivory Coast.
Ferguson has tried to go down the Wenger route – signing the best young
players at 16 or 17, rather than a couple of years later, by which time valuations
have soared – but with indifferent results. Gerard Piqué, a teammate of Fàbregas
at Barcelona, is on the fringes of the United squad, but Giuseppe Rossi was sold
to Villarreal (albeit at a large profit), while Floribert Nagilula, Mads Timm and
Markus Neumayr, all of whom joined with high expectations, left on free transfers
and the less said about Dong Fangzhou the better. United’s best prospects
remain those, such as Jonny Evans and Darron Gibson, who are native to these
islands, if not necessarily to Manchester.
That is a key difference between the clubs, but a willingness to blood young
talent is one trait that unites Ferguson and Wenger. “That’s where the common
ground is,” Wenger said yesterday. “He’s not scared to take a chance with young
players and bring them through and nor am I. But what he did [in the 1990s] to
bring those young English players through he cannot do any more,” Wenger
said. “Now he has bought Nani, Ronaldo, Anderson, the kind of talents that
aren’t available as much in England.” Still, there is one more similarity that links
United teams past and present and the present Arsenal side, all of them having
involved a purge of senior players to accommodate the youngsters. Ferguson
dumped Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andriy Kanchelskis in 1995 and Roy Keane
and Ruud van Nistelrooy before last season’s title-winning campaign, while
Wenger has dismantled the “Invincibles” team of 2003-04, most notably by
offloading Thierry Henry to Barcelona.
“I think Arsène did the correct thing in letting Henry go because it was time to
move on,” Ferguson said yesterday. “There’s always a time when you have to
change. Managing changes is very difficult. You have to make some crucial
decisions.”
There is none more crucial than those surrounding the break-up of one team and
the emergence of another. Ferguson and Wenger are masters of that, even if
both have gone about it in very different ways.
Value for money ?
£37.1m Cost of the Arsenal team that Arsène Wenger sent out to play Manchester United today
£30m Price of Rio Ferdinand, the most expensive player in today’s game
£151.8m Money spent by Sir Alex Ferguson on assembling the United side that takes to the pitch at the Emirates
Click here to join manutdtalk.com and read all breaking news on all things
United !!!
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Not much stirs on planet football without capturing the notice of Sir Alex
Ferguson, particularly when it comes to spotting the latest emerging talents. An
extensive network of scouts ensure that the Manchester United manager is kept
abreast of the young players who promise to dominate the sport long after he
has left Old Trafford, but, as he looks at Cesc Fàbregas orchestrating the Arsenal
midfield this lunchtime, he will acknowledge that this was one gem that not so
much slipped through the net but evaded it completely.
“No, I wasn’t aware of him when he was at Barcelona,” Ferguson said at United’s
training ground yesterday. “Maybe my scouts were, but I wasn’t. Arsenal moved
very quickly there.”
Indeed, having caught the eye of Arsenal scouts while playing for Barcelona’s
youth team, Fàbregas was on his way to London shortly after his 16th birthday,
with the Catalan club receiving only a six-figure sum as compensation. It was the
same summer that Ferguson began his rebuilding programme at Old Trafford by
signing players such as Eric Djemba Djemba, Kléberson and David Bellion,
although he also, rather more memorably, bought an 18-year-old winger from
Sporting Lisbon. Three years on, Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly a world-class
performer, but, in contrast to Fàbregas, he cost United a fee of £12.24 million.
Investing in youth is a precarious business and, while Ferguson is entitled to feel
that Ronaldo, Anderson, Nani, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tévez are at the very
least the equal of Fàbregas et al, there is a significant difference. Those five
players cost United a projected total of £86 million – and they do not even “own”
Tévez – whereas Arsenal picked up Kolo Touré for £350,000, Gaël Clichy for
£250,000, Emmanuel Eboué and Mathieu Flamini for £1.5 million apiece, Robin
van Persie for £3 million, Emmanuel Adebayor for £4 million and, best of all,
Fàbregas for a meagre compensation payment.
Ferguson talked yesterday of having identified Nani as a potential signing at the
age of 16, at the same he time bought Ronaldo. “A judgment is made over a
period,” he said. “It’s not a quick decision. When you are spending big money on
a teenager, you’ve got to be sure of certain things.”
Arsenal, though, move more decisively and with more certainty than the rest.
Some of their teenagers, such as Denilson and Theo Walcott, have still to prove
their worth – and they, coincidentally, are the two who cost most – but both are
equipped to go a long way in the game, as are Alexandre Song, Abou Diaby and
Nicklas Bendtner, among others. For such a small outlay, it is an astonishing haul,
one for which Wenger can thank his extensive scouting network, particularly in
France and in the Ivory Coast.
Ferguson has tried to go down the Wenger route – signing the best young
players at 16 or 17, rather than a couple of years later, by which time valuations
have soared – but with indifferent results. Gerard Piqué, a teammate of Fàbregas
at Barcelona, is on the fringes of the United squad, but Giuseppe Rossi was sold
to Villarreal (albeit at a large profit), while Floribert Nagilula, Mads Timm and
Markus Neumayr, all of whom joined with high expectations, left on free transfers
and the less said about Dong Fangzhou the better. United’s best prospects
remain those, such as Jonny Evans and Darron Gibson, who are native to these
islands, if not necessarily to Manchester.
That is a key difference between the clubs, but a willingness to blood young
talent is one trait that unites Ferguson and Wenger. “That’s where the common
ground is,” Wenger said yesterday. “He’s not scared to take a chance with young
players and bring them through and nor am I. But what he did [in the 1990s] to
bring those young English players through he cannot do any more,” Wenger
said. “Now he has bought Nani, Ronaldo, Anderson, the kind of talents that
aren’t available as much in England.” Still, there is one more similarity that links
United teams past and present and the present Arsenal side, all of them having
involved a purge of senior players to accommodate the youngsters. Ferguson
dumped Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andriy Kanchelskis in 1995 and Roy Keane
and Ruud van Nistelrooy before last season’s title-winning campaign, while
Wenger has dismantled the “Invincibles” team of 2003-04, most notably by
offloading Thierry Henry to Barcelona.
“I think Arsène did the correct thing in letting Henry go because it was time to
move on,” Ferguson said yesterday. “There’s always a time when you have to
change. Managing changes is very difficult. You have to make some crucial
decisions.”
There is none more crucial than those surrounding the break-up of one team and
the emergence of another. Ferguson and Wenger are masters of that, even if
both have gone about it in very different ways.
Value for money ?
£37.1m Cost of the Arsenal team that Arsène Wenger sent out to play Manchester United today
£30m Price of Rio Ferdinand, the most expensive player in today’s game
£151.8m Money spent by Sir Alex Ferguson on assembling the United side that takes to the pitch at the Emirates
Click here to join manutdtalk.com and read all breaking news on all things
United !!!
http://manutdtalk.com/forums/register.php