Morrison, Pogba and Januzaj - A comparison

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 14: Adnan Januzaj of Manchester United takes on Jason Puncheon of Crystal Palace during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on September 14, 2013 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

In the 26 years that Sir Alex Ferguson managed Manchester United, one aspect of his footballing philosophy stood out prominently; first for its excellence in execution, and later for its glaring lack: Sir Alex’s Youth Policy.

The early years of his reign at Manchester United saw the factory production line-like efficiency in churning out young players. The fact that there are two instances of “Fergie’s Fledglings” pretty much says it all. The first batch of the Fledglings were part of the team that made it to the final of the 1986 FA Youth Cup, losing out to bitter rivals Manchester City. From that team, Lee Martin, Tony Gill and David Wilson would go on to become some of the first Fledglings. They were joined by Russell Beardsmore, Mark Robins and Deiniol Graham. Lee Sharpe and Giuliano Maiorana are also considered a part of the troupe, even though they were not from the United Academy, but were purchased from Torquay and Histon respectively.

The second batch, so to speak, of Fergie’s Fledglings were the ones who would make the connotation famous around the world. They are also, incidentally, the same group of players who would condemn football pundit and former Liverpool player Alan Hansen for a lifetime of ridicule for his infamous, “You’ll never win anything with kids” quote. These were the all-conquering stars of their generation, who could claim the honour, rightfully at that, of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the infamous Busby Babes. Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt are the leading lights of the Fledglings of the 90s, with some such as Terry Cooke fell by the wayside, unable to match the brilliance that was displayed by the rest. Of course, Eric Harrison, Sir Alex’s trusted assistant coach, in charge of youth development, deserves equal credit for the achievements of the Fledglings.

But, this batch of players were the last ever to be given the label of Fledglings, for after them, Manchester United never were able to produce a batch of players with talents to match those. While it is true that United kept on promoting young, often British, players to the first team from the youth teams, none of them were able to garner the acclaim that their predecessors enjoyed. Players such as John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Darren Fletcher and recently, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley have come through the system at United, but both sets of players are far apart in age, a fact that demonstrates United’s paucity in recent times as far as producing talent goes.

But, now, we take a look at 3 players: former players Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison, and current United hot-prospect Adnan Januzaj.

Right off the outset, a point must be made: namely, in terms of pure talent, Morrison stands heads and shoulders above both Paul Pogba and Adnan Januzaj. This might seem a ludicrous and somewhat preposterous claim to some, given that both Pogba and Januzaj are so much more famous than Morrison, but that is only because of the circumstances of fate.