I don’t speak much French but I think the commentary team were just a little bit impressed with Bellingham. Ended up a bit of a farse tbh, Brazil had another player sent off for a second yellow card. They were more interested in kicking lumps out of our players than trying to play themselves but guess that’s frustration for you when they couldn’t get near our players for most of the game.
Ive been super impressed with this bunch and they should be duly proud of 3rd, which could have been more bar some luck against argentina. This tournament was no joke. Theres quality right the way through- especially patino, bellingham, musiala,barry, dembele - and depth too. Excited to see them take a shot at the u17s
Even though it’s early days but I wonder if potentially this age group could become fairly close to the 2000’s in terms of talents? Bellingham seems to be the top talent at the moment but he’s certainly backed up by some very impressive players from what I’ve seen so far and I’m sure some will keep on improving.
I look at the players not in the squad but with callups this season and I can't help but be impressed by the depth still to come. Aaron Ramsey from Villa, Lewis Richardson at Burnley already getting U23 football, the two Charlton boys Henry and Williams who are very tidy midfield options, Haigh, Simons and Vale from Chelsea and Young-Coombes from Rangers who is extremely talented, Gordon at Palace and Hodnett at Wolves starting to play regular U18 football, Lewis Dobbin was injured for this, most of the Man City boys could come back in - Burns, McNeill, Mbete-Tabu, Robertson - and the two Sunderland boys Gooch and Pye have something about them too. Plus Harvey Elliott could drop back down at any point if they're so inclined.
Lots of dual national too. Could be loads of churn by the time the U17 Euros roll around, if it’s anything like this year, some of them might miss out on U17 football completely. This afternoon was so impressive though. Such a well rounded performance.
I thought it was notable they got a significant number of their dual nats in for their toughest tournament of the season. Oluwayemi, Egan-Riley, Dembele, Barry, Musiala and Ohio have all been with other countries at one point or another.
I think only 6 of 13 new scholars for next season at United are England eligible or look likely to play for England. So many of them from outside academies too. Can't remember an intake quite like this.
It's the complete opposite at Chelsea, ten of them have played for England at some level, and two more who were released and signed somewhere else have too.
It's a shame really, particularly when you think of the class of 92 - how talented they were and nearly all English. Could it be (a) there are no longer talented local footballers around (b) the talented local footballers are joining Man City or other academies (c) the scouts aren't good enough to recognize potential, or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Would be wrong to boil it down to one factor, will be multiple things, including the ones you mentioned. Compounded by random stuff like Charlie Savage being one of them, so he's a normal local recruit who in this discussion probably counts as Welsh. Nationality aside, I don't think it's a good year at all. Which is becoming increasingly the norm at United.
It looks weak intake from what I know about the players. Maybe quality issues with local recruitment?
Anyone know if Deji Sotana is England qualified? Not played for Ireland this season, I'm not sure how long he's lived here?
It's due to weak recruitment and a bit of bad luck at the lower ages when these were young, the recruitment team has been boosted greatly at United over the last 2 years and I know a lot of the current staff which are outstanding, they'll be fine and recruitment is very good at United currently and should have some very exciting players coming through in the coming years.
According to an article in the Manchester evening news from last month, the under-13 group at Manchester United is one to watch. Would that be 2006 year group? Daily Mail reckons he'll be playing for England U17 next season.
Don't read anything into that Daily Mail piece. They're simply reacting to stuff he's posting on Social Media. They're less informed than the people in this thread tbh.
It was interesting watching dembele in this tournament. A few years ago he was leaps above his peers, now not so. Still v good but musiala patino and especially bellingham seemed our best players to me. Hope we keep hold of musiala because he floats through a game
It’s kind of on the cards though isn’t it, or have I misread the situation? I mean, of late he’s only been turning out for England hasn’t he?
Sure. But my point is that the whole Daily Mail article has been clearly written based on less information than anyone who is on this forum or frequents this thread, already has. So there's no need to take it as some credible new piece of information or any indication that they've got an inside scoop on his future, just because they're a mainstream sports website.
I dunno, admittedly I haven't watched all of the footage but from what I did see he looks technically the best of the lot to me. I don't think this group is anywhere near the 00's either.
Don't think Dembele is technically the best of the lot tbh. Seen him loads and although talented, he's over-hyped, sometimes overcomplicating things that should be simple. Agree with David, Patino, Bellingham, Musiala and a few others offer more on the pitch.
How old is Harvey Griffths at City? Came on as a sub today. Egan-Riley started + Mbete came on as a sub. Onyango with a brace against United.