Juve Got To Be Kidding, Pogba

By Sean McGuire

There have been times in British football when a once in a generation team emerges on the fringes and the whole football club starts to suddenly simmer with excitement at the prospect of watching these new talents blossom on the football field. Think the Busby Babes with Charlton, Edwards and Whelan, think the Class of ’92 with Scholes, Beckham and Giggs – think gifted. There are some players who work hard in training to perfect their game. There are others who practice relentlessly to maximise the best of their abilities, then are others who have just got it.

United’s latest crop of youngsters who won the F.A. Youth Cup in 2011 and then the Reserve League North in 2012 have mesmerised the coaches at Manchester United. They have torn the Reserve League to shreds with their rare talents and some of them have already become household names without even kicking a ball in the Premier League.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MARCH 11: Paul Pogba of Manchester United in action during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford on March 11, 2012 in Manchester, England.

However, instead of sitting back and enjoying some of our very own nurtured home-grown products take to the field and begin a career that is usually destined for those in the realms of legend, two of United’s brightest stars, Ravel Morrison and Paul Pogba, have already opted for a move away.

It is unfathomable to think why young men with such talent at their disposal and footballers who have the ‘potential star’ sign hanging around their necks would want to move away from the biggest club in the world.

To make matters worse, Morrison left for a club who barely scratch the surface of mediocrity in West Ham, and Paul Pogba has agreed to join Juventus, a team whose future is steeped in uncertainty amid allegations of match-fixing. There are also rumours rife around United that more of the Red’s youngsters are looking for the Old Trafford exit in search of the pound signs.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MAY 23: Tom Thorpe of Manchester United lifts the Trophy in celebration during the FA Youth Cup Final 2nd Leg match between Manchester United and Sheffield United at Old Trafford on May 23, 2011 in Manchester, England.

The problem is the balance of power between club and player has started to tip towards the player. It is difficult to comprehend how this situation has arisen at the Theatre of Dreams. What is the world coming to when a player who has made half a dozen substitute appearances for Manchester United can hold Sir Alex Ferguson to ransom over a new contract? What sort of people are advising these young kids?

In years gone by at Manchester United the only advice a young player needed was from the coaching staff and the manager. An arm around the shoulder, a few words of inspiration, endless help with off the field matters, and the occasional blow from the hair dryer over the years have shaped many of our great young players into world beaters and habitual trophy winners. Everything that a young talented player could ever want to achieve in his footballing career would come true at Manchester United.

So why do young players want to sacrifice all this for the sake of an extra ten or fifteen grand a week?

Somehow, the agents have become the player’s biggest influence in their footballing careers. The agents make the demands, they cause the trouble, they do the negotiations, they suggest the transfer requests and give other clubs the heads-up if their client is unhappy. The reason why agents cause trouble and unsettle players is purely for their own benefit: either way, they earn more money off the player because he either moves to another club or gets a better contract. It is how they operate, but it is so detrimental to the players career that it could finish the player off as a top class professional. This is why I want to bang the heads of today’s young players together – the agents are in it for themselves and they do not care about your welfare as a footballer.

Mino Raiola (RIght)

In recent weeks we saw Eden Hazard choose Chelsea over Manchester United, even though they both offered the same amount of money. Okay, being the reigning Champions League winner’s did bear some weight in persuading the young Belgian to join the London side, but why would a player so gifted choose to join a managerless team? The answer is simple. Hazard’s agent received a £6 million payment just for himself on top of the transfer fee. Manchester United have always refused to do this kind of business.

The players use their agents as role models, as mentors, as father figures, as confidants and as the only person in the world that they think they can trust. The irony is they are the last person on Earth that they can trust – because unlike the fans, the manager and their team mates, agents could not care less if the player never wins a trophy again as long as they get their pay day.

So when Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison wind-up on the millionaire’s knackers yard before their careers have even started they should have looked at the players around them and made up their own minds, not the decision that is going to make their agents wealthy. They should look no further than down the road at Manchester City and see the careers of Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Bellamy and Nasri all go down the pan for an extra few thousand a week. They should then look at the likes of Ryan Giggs who has won it all and is the one of the richest men in football despite never moving clubs. He should look at Paul Scholes as an example of how you maximise your gift as a footballer. Sir Matt Busby once said that “You don’t need to chase money at this club because if you play for Manchester United it will eventually find you anyway.”

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 05: Paul Scholes of Manchester United celebrates scoring the opening goal with team mate Ryan Giggs (L) during his Testimonial Match between Manchester United and New York Cosmos at Old Trafford on August 5, 2011 in Manchester, England.

Ferguson may have had no choice but to sell these players, but what did Ravel Morrison think he was going to win at West Ham? What can Paul Pogba earn commercially at Juventus? What satisfaction as a footballer are they going to feel? What about simply the honour of playing for the world’s biggest club? Does Paul Pogba really think he will become a better footballer at another club? If Ravel Morrison cannot get into a Championship team, what makes Paul Pogba think he will get first team football at Juventus?

Does he know that Manchester United have produced more home grown talent who have gone on to play for their country than any other club? Does he know when the Fifa fair play rule comes in Manchester United will be the only team (Arsenal aside) that can afford the best players? Have they heard of the Busby Babes and the Class of ‘92? What about today’s crop of youngsters, Welbeck, Jones, Cleverley, Smalling, Hernandez, Keane – are they not good enough for them? Which football club has nurtured Ronaldo and Rooney into two of the best players in the world? Who is advising these boys? Because if they really wanted to be top footballers, if they really want to get the most out of the game that they were born to play in, if they really want to maximise their God-given talent, then any human being with an ounce of common sense would have advised them to stay at Old Trafford.

The Busby Babes in their last ever football match

Unfortunately these young players of today are being milked for all they are worth by the ill-advising blight on the beautiful game which is the football agent. It is a sorry state of affairs when Sir Alex Ferguson has had to let two of the hottest properties in youth football slip through his fingers at a club famous for nurturing youngsters. But in a few years time when Paul Pogba is playing regular football, Manchester United fans will not be watching him thinking ‘we could have had Paul Pogba’. Instead he will be looking through the windows at Old Trafford thinking ‘I could have had Manchester United”.