Will The Kids Be Alright?

Van Gaal's winning record with youth might be the real reason for his appointment by the Glazers

Assessing the lay of the land at Old Trafford on Friday, Paul Scholes became the latest inviolable name associated with the club to miss the giant white elephant skulking in the car park.

 

It's everywhere, in fact. It was in United's team sheet yesterday at the Stadium of Light. It lumbered on next to Michael Keane when Chris Smalling hobbled off, again. It was sat next to Louis Van Gaal - no stooge? - when he talked about United's lack of creative passing.

 

Avi Glazer and co should give serious thought to taking over a small country and setting up a totalitarian state. Do United have a small Stasi located in the bowels of that massive stadium, working day and night to 'discourage' negative pronouncements on the parasitic effect they have on the club?

 

Scholes, Neville et al were brought up in the standard United manner. The club is bigger than all those who walk down Sir Alex Ferguson Way. They recognise their forbearance and act accordingly when passing comment. That's not the same as keeping your head below the parapet. But the Glazers, cowards that they are, feed off the parsimony. They don't badmouth anybody - because it's bad for business.

 

The reason Van Gaal excited fans - and gets City fans switching the match on at 4pm, no less - is because he's cut from the same cloth as them. He refers to the board as 'my directors'. He gets in fights with people like Uli Hoeness. His principles are all-encompassing.

 

And he believes in youth. His pride at Xavi and Iniesta's achievements was evident in his interview with Gary Neville last week. He likes to remind people of what he did with Thomas Mueller, Holger Badstuber, David Alaba and Toni Kroos at Bayern. He nearly won a second Champions League with Ajax - with the same squad that he led to victory over Milan the year prior.

 

Everyone sees the connection, but stories of Angel di Maria cloud what could be the Glazers' real motivation for hiring Van Gaal. Sure, he's demanded better players. But he's also played Tyler Blackett and Michael Keane. He'll probably give Tom Lawrence and definitely James Wilson a chance, both being included in the season's first team squad. Jesse Lingard will probably also make an appearance.



Do players like James Wilson represent the future for United under the Glazers?

 

In the case of Keane and Blackett, his hand's rather been forced by a shocking lack of depth. But beneath United's floundering first team, their under 21 side remains strong. They were only beaten to the league title by Chelsea last season and have started this season well in second position. Further down the age bracket, six of the eleven current under-18 players have been capped by England.

 

The rumours of Welbeck's wishes to depart are offset a little by the superb form of Wilson, who netted five in six in last season's UEFA Youth League and seven in nine in the U21 Premier League. His two goals versus Hull City last season prompted an uncharacteristically sentimental outburst from Giggs, interim coach at the time. 

 

United were handed a relatively easy fixture list to open their season with - the first ten sides they play finished, on average, in 16th place last season. So this is undoubtedly the time to get youngsters like Blackett, Lingard and Keane involved.

 

Van Gaal will effusively reject any suggestion of manipulation. He will do the job his way, as noted during the club's marathon timetable around America midsummer. And it's true there was no one as good as Van Gaal immediately available when the club decided there was no substitute for regular, sustained success.

 

But instead of dreaming of the Bayern squad full of internationals playing breakneck football, or the Dutch-Brazilian fusion going on at Barcelona under his guidance, perhaps United fans should cast their eyes towards this year's Netherlands side.

A mix of youth and technical proficiency, sprinkled with stardust, that Van Gaal found a way of exploiting for delivering results. Sound familiar?

Picture thanks to the Telegraph