When Manchester United announce the signings of Marc Jurado, Alvaro Fernandez and Isak Hansen-Aaroen, they will be the last to report it.
All three teens confirmed their moves on Instagram, the modern footballer’s preferred mode of communication, and Spaniards Jurado and Fernandez posed in training kits while quarantined with a family in Manchester.
There is a backlog of FIFA approval deals and United are still awaiting international clearance for Norway’s Hansen-Aaroen, who turned 16 last week. Players require clearance from both relevant football associations and United have received full clearance for Fernandez but still pending from the Football Association for Jurado, which has had approval from the Royal Spanish Football Association.
Jurado, 16, and Fernandez, 17, have already started intensive English lessons and were introduced to their new coaches via Zoom calls. They did FaceTiming with reigning Spanish academy players Arnau Puigmal and Mateo Mejia and gave access to documentaries about the club and Manchester to help them integrate.
United could opt for a discreet announcement for their newcomers. Hannibal Mejbri, 17, has attracted the interest of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Tottenham, a French youth international has arrived from Munich for a sum that rises to 10 million euros, but his name has been buried in history titled on new agreements for Paul Woolston and Luca Ercolani.
United do not want their rookies to be overrated before they have set foot in the youth academy. “His performances have been very good,” academy head Nick Cox told MEN of Mejbri. “The first goal for any player coming from outside the country is to settle down, build relationships and settle in, in terms of where you will live, what you know about your environment.
“This is really the only expectation we have of him right now in these early stages; it’s just to settle.”
Mejbri has quickly become a target for budding ax-men, but returns just as well; mocking Leeds fans and frustrating senior pros like Richard Stearman in Huddersfield, where United Under 23 manager Neil Wood had to break up an altercation between Mejbri and Jaden Brown.
United invited Mejbri to Norway for a friendly win against Kristiansund last year and the gladiator overshadowed the addition of Ajax forward Dillon Hoogewerf, winner of the FA Youth Cup match against Leeds at Old Trafford , and Mejia of Real Zaragoza.
The youth recruiting strategy has been more aggressive since the 2015-16 transition season, when the Under 18s suffered a streak of 11 league losses and were beaten 5-1 in the Youth Cup by Chelsea. Coach Paul McGuinness is gone, recruiting chief Derek Langley has been eliminated, and Nicky Butt has replaced Brian McClair as head of the academy.
Under Butt’s leadership, United has recruited Tahith Chong, Aliou Traore, Largie Ramazani, Charlie McCann and Harvey Neville, among many others. Chong and Traore have engaged in loans with Werder Bremen and Cannes, but Ramazani, a rookie in the Europa League defeat to Astana, turned down United’s contract offer and vacated in July. McCann has just been enrolled by the Triple S agency representing Harry Maguire and Wayne Rooney.
The success rate was mixed. Chong’s form has been unstable in his first team outings, forwards Nishan Burkart, Millen Baars and Joshua Bohui were disappointed and Lee O’Connor left for Celtic after three years. Mejbri, McCann and Polish right-back Lukasz Bejger started in the Youth Cup quarter-final win against Wigan, and Ethan Galbraith entered Astana.
Langley was desperate after United turned down three teen recommendations: Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong and Dayot Upamecano. Mejbri, Jurado and Fernandez announce the transition from rough diamonds to gems.
Gerard Pique and Giuseppe Rossi, 17 at the time of their arrival in 2004, debuted within six months of posing with Sir Alex Ferguson in Carrington and their advanced development remains the benchmark for outdoor teen recruits. Pique, like Jurado, has turned down the offer of a new contract from Barcelona.
United named Romain Poirot as their scout to unearth French ‘world class’ talent two years ago and were alerted of Mejbri’s potential by their French youth scout Mathieu Seckinger, who first followed him as played for the Paris FC Under 13s. Mejbri is developing at the fastest pace of external additions and more in line with Pique’s profile.
The obvious comparison is with Jurado.
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