Man Utd want to take their ball home within the city...
Manchester City infuriate neighbours by dominating youth market
Rory Smith, Oliver Kay
Last updated at 12:01AM, September 11 2015
Manchester United’s uneasy relationship with Manchester City has soured further because of a dispute over the recruitment of youth players, with the Old Trafford club even going as far as to consider refusing to play their neighbours at academy level.
Though United have stopped short of submitting a formal complaint to the Premier League, they are believed to have expressed their unhappiness at what they perceive as their neighbours’ overzealous recruitment strategy on more than one occasion.
A number of former United players — including Robin van Persie, Phil Neville and Darren Fletcher — have enrolled their sons in their rivals’ academy, while a host of the brightest prospects from across the country have opted to continue their development with City.
United threatened to complain to the Premier League last year after City beat them to a number of players, and the club are thought to have discussed in recent weeks the idea of requesting not to play against City because of their interest in a number of their players, including Angel Gomes, an England Under-16 midfielder.
City and the Premier League, however, have yet to receive any official correspondence on the subject.
Although there remains a question as to how many of their youth players will one day get a chance in City’s first team, the results of the club’s age-group sides this season make it easy to see why so many are opting for the blue half of Manchester.
When the sides faced each other across a variety of age groups this month, City won every fixture apart from one, which was drawn. Their under-14s — national champions at under-13 level last season — beat their United counterparts 9-0. The club’s under-15s began the season by beating Liverpool 6-0, while their under-18s have won all five of their fixtures during this campaign.
That is testament not only to the work of Neil Roberts, Mark Allen and Rodolfo Borrell at the club’s academy, but also to the effectiveness of their approach to recruitment. This season, the club signed Jadon Sancho, a 14-year-old who started at Watford, at a cost of more than £200,000.
City’s connection with St Bede’s College, an elite school in Manchester, has also led to those of the club’s players who took their GCSEs this summer achieving results that were 10 per cent better than the national average, which serves as another considerable attraction to prospective parents.
United’s troubles at youth level extend well beyond displeasure with their neighbours, however. The club are yet to replace Brian McClair, who left his position as academy director in May to become the performance director of the Scottish FA, while the club’s youth scouts are believed to be frustrated at delays in recruitment, which they believe allow their rivals to beat them to the signatures of high-calibre youth prospects.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/premierleague/article4553673.ece