Sir Alex Ferguson has praised the performance of 18-year-old Nick Powell, after the midfielder scored on his Premier League debut in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Wigan, The Oldham Evening Chronicle reports.
Powell came on as a second-half substitute for Ryan Giggs and scored the Reds Devils’ final goal with a long-range strike from outside the area.
Ferguson was keen to highlight the maturity of Powell and how his attributes will help the team progress in years to come.
“Nick Powell is going to be a really good player. He has a great temperament. He has two feet and is quick. He is a great striker of the ball. For an 18–year–old boy it has been a terrific day,” said Ferguson
Alexander Buttner also scored on his debut for the club after Javier Hernandez’s second and Paul Scholes’ opener.
Scholes netted on his 700th Manchester United appearance, causing Sir Alex to wax lyrical about the midfielder’s qualities.
“That is what we always remember about Paul, the way he ghosts into the penalty box.
“Now he has scored on his 100th, 300th, 400th, 500th and 700th appearances. It is fantastic,” Ferguson added.
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The match at Old Trafford was full of milestones as it was the Scotsman’s 500th home League game in charge, while Rio Ferdinand made his 400th appearance and Ryan Giggs played in his 600th Premier League game.
Cast your minds back to 11th August 2012, a day in our golden summer of sport at the Olympic Games; a day when arguably one of the most significant gold medals was claimed, as Mexico defeated Brazil at Wembley in the Men’s Football Olympic Final.
Oribe Peralta scored both goals for “El Tri”; with first coming after just 28 seconds, as Brazil were defeated 2-1 to land the country its first-ever Olympic football medal.
To most of the watching world and to 80,000 people inside the stadium, the result would have come as a surprise; but delve a little deeper and it becomes quite obvious that this victory had been on the horizon for some time, seven years to be precise.
An article in World Soccer revealed that in 2005, after winning the World Under-17 World Cup, the Mexican FA created a Sports Development committee, who enforced a ruling that all of the country’s top-flight clubs would have to field a player under the age of 20- years-and-11 months for a minimum of 45 minutes per-game across the season.
Two youth tournaments also copied the country’s league structure; and each match in the first division would be preceded by two matches involving the Under-17 and Under-20 teams of those respective clubs.
This in turn, forced clubs to invest heavily in their own youth academies, with a professional scouting system implemented at each team in the top two divisions.
Their success since 2005 has shown how the approach can work; Mexico have won the World Under-17 Cup twice, the Pan American Games (Under-23), the Olympics (Under-23) and finished third at the World Under-20 Cup, whilst winning a host of invitation tournaments around the globe.
Additionally, all of Mexico’s coaches work with each other and feed into one structure; for instance, when the under-17s finished their World Cup campaign, their coach became assistant to the Under-20 coach, who then worked alongside the Under-23 coach.
So can a similar structure work here in England? The element of a supposed synergy taking place in Mexico is being somewhat replicated here, with the opening of St George’s Park in Burton-on-Trent.
All of England’s 24 teams from the juniors to the men’s senior side will be based at the centre; which could allow for easier talent identification between the age groups.
One of the centre’s main aims is produce players who are ready to break into Premier League first-teams by the age of 18 or 19, as Sir Trevor Brooking highlighted.
But this is where similarities between the two countries end.
England could not replicate a similar system here due to the countless conflicts of interest which come to the fore every time the topic of youth development is discussed.
The Premier League has enforced the Elite Player Performance Plan, where essentially the biggest clubs receive the most talented young players for smaller fees.
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Many argue the FA should be in charge of how players are recruited and brought through the ranks of club football, but delegating their responsibilities to the Premier League means that developing a transparent youth development policy with everyone on board is almost impossible.
The FA and Premier League sadly have different vested interests; and unlike Mexico, one must be sceptical as to whether youth development in this country is more focused on developing the Premier League as a product, rather than enhancing the quality of our national team.
Meanwhile in Mexico, despite the power lying with the country’s FA, the real decisions are made by the owners of the country’s biggest clubs, who also own the large media companies such as, Televisa and TV Azteca. Their success is dependent on results on the pitch and the national team doing well, something which is not quite so obvious on this side of the Atlantic.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he will be without summer signing Shinji Kagawa for around a month as reported by the Daily Mirror.
Kagawa suffered the knee injury in the first half United’s comeback against Portuguese side Braga in the Champions League on Tuesday night and Ferguson compared the injury to the one that has kept England winger Ashley Young on the sidelines this season.
“Shinji is going to be out for three to four weeks,” Ferguson said.
“Playing on with the injury didn’t help the situation for him. He did well to play on.
“It’s a knee injury, similar to the one Ashley Young had.
“He’ll be out for three to four weeks, which is disappointing for him.”
The United boss did have some good news to report though as young defensive pair Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are both ready to start full training after recovering from long term injuries.
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Manchester City are set to make a move for Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos according to CalcioMercato.
It is believed that City boss Mancini is genuinely interested in snapping up the 22-year-old German international who is thought to be available for as little as £12million.
Roberto Mancini is thought to be battling it out with Inter Milan to secure the signature of the former Hansa Rostock prospect.
Despite taking a while to break into the set up at the Allianz Arena, the starlet has really caught the eye, following a loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen, and is now a regular in the first team for Bayern.
Kroos has dazzled so far this season, featuring in 9 out of 10 of the Bundesliga’s side league fixtures, with the midfielder already amassing 5 goals for the season in all competitions.
The Manchester club do boast an array of attacking midfield talent, in particular in the forms of both David Silva and Samir Nasri; however the Italian is known to welcome an abundance of attacking resources at his disposal.
The Former Inter boss failed to secure some of the stellar transfer targets he wanted to lure to the Etihad stadium this summer, the most notable failure being Eden Hazard who ended up at Stamford Bridge signing for their rivals Chelsea.
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A move for the talented German Kroos would certainly go some way to resurrecting these shortcomings, in the last window for the club, and it would definitely be a deal to excite the club’s supporters.
One of the all time classic Premier League fixtures takes place on Sunday, as Liverpool take on Newcastle United at Anfield.
Brendan Rodgers will have to pick his team up quickly, not for the first time this season, following a bitterly disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Swansea in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.
Rodgers openly admitted his team were outplayed after the game, despite bringing on big guns Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez at half time.
Their last league outing also ended in disappointment, being denied a 3-2 derby win over Everton thanks to a wrong decision by the linesman. Luis Suarez was on target that day and in midweek, taking his goals tally this season to 9 in all competitons.
Newcastle go into the game on the back of a win, beating West Brom 2-1 last time out thanks to a late deflected Papiss Cisse goal.
Top scorer Demba Ba is a doubt, currently nursing a shin injury, with veteran Shola Ameobi hoping to deputise.
Liverpool may welcome back Pepe Reina, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury.
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Those looking for a goal fest better look away now as tonight’s clash between West Ham and Stoke see two of the clubs with the best defensive records in the Premier League pitted against each other.
The two sides have conceded just 21 goals between them in 22 matches and both Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis have put together squads that are extremely hard to break down.
Four points against Manchester City and Newcastle will give Hammers fans hope going into tonight’s game while the Potters’ record of no wins in the last 15 away games means the home side are certainly favourites.
Comparisons have been made between the tactical styles of Big Sam and Pulis with both teams favouring tight defensive qualities and long balls aimed at the heads of Messrs Carroll and Crouch, but Allardyce believes the parallels stop there.
“They are not the same”, Allardyce said.
“Mine are not the same as Tony’s. I’m an individual. Nobody copies Sam Allardyce. I don’t copy anybody else.”
The Hammers boss did however, sympathise with the criticism often levelled at Pulis’ Stoke suggesting that actually, his philosophy isn’t too far from the Welshman’s.
“Tony has suffered his fair share of criticism down the years for the way his teams play – but not from me.
“I believe the art of good defending is the catalyst to your team’s success – or otherwise,” he added.
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It is thought that Allardyce will fortify his defence by returning James Collins to his starting XI, but Matthew Taylor, Jack Collison and Ricardo Vaz Te will all miss out.
Stoke will be hoping that Glenn Whelan can shake off a hamstring injury picked up in the Republic of Ireland’s match with Greece midweek and Dean Whitehead is suspended. Jonathan Walters and Charlie Adam have a 50/50 chance of featuring.
Prediction: West Ham 1 – 0 Stoke City
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West Brom manager Steve Clarke is worried about the possibility of Romelu Lukaku being recalled in January by misfiring Chelsea.
Clarke has admitted that plans are already in place for Albion to snap up a new striker in the transfer window if Rafa Benitez decides to bring back the Chelsea loanee in the new year.
“It’s a situation I cannot control, but I can’t spend my time worrying about it,” Clarke told Sky Sports.
“It won’t be a problem. We know the possibilities that could happen in January and we know what we will do if that happens.
“I’m not telling you my plans.
“But I have to manage a football club with the help of my staff and scouts.
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“We have six scouts having a planning meeting about potential targets and you have to think ahead.
“January’s a window and there’s one in the summer, so you plan towards those windows and for a number of circumstances that may happen.”
Leeds manager Neil Warnock believes that it will be tough for his side to achieve a positive result against Chelsea in Wednesday’s Capital One Cup quarter-final clash.
The Championship outfit are rank outsiders against the Londoners, who will be keen to bounce back from their FIFA Club World Cup disappointment over the weekend.
Warnock thinks a memorable victory is possible, but only if the Blues are below par:
“You never know if it’s your last big cup tie really, so it whets the appetite. I don’t think I could have picked a better team to play against.” He is quoted by SkySports.
“It promises to be fabulous with no pressure on us. Whatever team I select we can just go out and enjoy it.
“I hope we go out and give them a good game, but if we play well and they do as well there’s only one winner, so we have to hope they’re not right up to it and we’re on top of our game.”
He went on to suggest that playing at Elland Road could give his team a slight advantage
“We can give anyone a run for their money on our patch and it promises to be a really good cup tie.
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“There’s nothing else happening in the country that night so all eyes will be on the cup tie and it will be exciting.
“As you saw against the others, I think Everton picked a strong side and we did well against them so it’s all credit to the boys.”
Manchester City have released midfielder Michael Johnson after finally running out of patience with the player, the Telegraph reports.
The 24-year-old was one of City’s brightest stars to come through the academy in recent years, when he broke into the first team set up as an 18-year-old.
However after years of failing to fulfil his potential through a series of injuries, as well as problems off the field, he has now had his contract paid off by the club.
The public announcement of the news followed last nights emergence on Twitter, of a recent picture of Jonhson looking a shadow of his former self.
Previous City boss Mark Hughes was among many who had tipped the midfielder for stardom in the game whilst in charge of the Manchester club, saying:
“He is an outstanding young player with a great talent and a great future ahead of him and we want that future to be at City, so we are working to that end.
“The guy has everything in front of him.
“We have all been impressed with what he has shown so far, and I am sure he will be an England regular.
Unfortunately for Johnson, this potential never materialised and his last appearance for the club was as a substitute in a Carling Cup tie against Scunthorpe in October 2009.
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He also spent an unsuccessful spell on loan at Leicester City last season, which ended prematurely due to injury.
Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder is on the verge of joining Turkish giants Galatasaray in a €10m deal, according to reports from Sky Sports.
The Dutchman has been linked with Premier League clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City recently as a result of a contract dispute with his current employers.
Galatasaray have stepped in to take advantage of this, tabling an offer which is has been accepted by the San Siro outfit, according to president Massimo Moratti:
“Galatasaray’s offer satisfies us. Now it depends on the player.”
As well as agreeing a fee, the Istanbul based side are also willing to match Sneijder’s wage demands, which could see him put pen to paper.
Payment is the issue surrounding the 28-year-old’s stay in Italy, with Inter keen to reduce his basic salary.
Sneijder has rejected their demands, which has seen him axed from first-team duty.
Although they have accepted the bid for his services, Moratti has refused to close the door on him staying at the club, but has remained strong on the wage issues:
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“We would be happy if he decided to stay on our terms. I haven’t spoken to him, but if he did decide to stay on our terms he would be a great help.”