José Mourinho has revitalised Manchester United. Performances are vastly improved, results are predominantly improved, the Reds still fighting on all four fronts, and the mood at Old Trafford reflects that. Yet the Portuguese must radically change his treatment and use of the talented academy players ready to burst into the first team, quickly.
Token debuts for goalkeeper Joel Pereira and central defender Axel Tuanzebe simply will not cut it for Mourinho. “The honeymoon period”, as Carlo Ancelotti labels it, the time after a manager joins a club and the fans are slightly more forgiving, will come to an end after a season for Mourinho and everything will be scrutinised, not just simply results and performances, which have clearly improved.
Mourinho must improve youth policy
He has suggested that he will never leave United of his volition, hence the current thought is that he needs to build the club in his vision. That’s a challenge Mourinho has rarely faced, his tenure at most clubs extremely short compared to most of United’s managers. There is little sign of that just yet, though that can be expected and accepted after less than 12 months in the role.
Next season, however, things will have to improve. Mourinho cannot ignore the supreme talent within Man United’s academy. Although the current under-23 side is short on quality, certain players deserve a first team chance, the under-18s are flying with 55 goals in 21 league games this season.
The UEFA Europa League presented an ideal chance to give the more senior youth players a chance at a senior level. Centre-back and under-23s captain and star player Axel Tuanzebe was namedropped by Mourinho after being given a chance against Wigan Athletic in pre-season.
Yet when it began to be a question of Mourinho having the trust in Tuanzebe to drop him in at an elite level and risk the team’s chances of winning, he did not. Hence why the debuts for Tuanzebe and Pereira against Wigan in the FA Cup were pointless and simply a demonstration of the failure of Mourinho’s youth policy as of yet. Both players arrived on the pitch with United leading by at least two goals and with a cleansheet. The experience of playing at Old Trafford is certainly beneficial, but little else was achieved with their two debuts.
Lack of time for youngsters baffling
The Europa League group stage saw United play six games against top, though not elite, level opposition in Fenerbahce and Feyenoord, as well as Zorya Luhansk. Tuanzebe should have played. Of course, there are mitigating circumstances, but Mourinho had a fixture list bursting at the seams with a number of key games in the league, how Tuanzebe was left in the under-23s is baffling.
Baffling is a key word in terms of youth this season for United. Wednesday night saw United confirm their Europa League Round of 16 place, where they'll face Rostov, with a 3-0 win against Saint-Etienne. 30-year-old Ashley Young started at right-back, United’s best defender Eric Bailly started, despite the EFL Cup Final coming up on Sunday afternoon.
Tuanzebe and Timothy Fosu-Mensah were nowhere to be seen, not even in the squad. Fosu-Mensah has suffered immeasurably this season. The Netherlands defender has played 229 minutes in all competitions this season, with only 15 of those minutes against what would be considered top opposition, the majority coming against sides like Reading and Northampton Town.
The lack of time for Fosu-Mensah is unforgivable from Mourinho. If the United manager cannot trust him when United are 3-0 up going away to Saint-Etienne with a Wembley final just days away, it’s unlikely he’ll be getting any more game time in the coming months.
Fosu-Mensah treatment wrong
Baffling, though, is that Fosu-Mensah has been stopped from playing for the under-23s. On average, he has spent a month between appearances (none of those being a full 90 minutes). United’s under-23s play every week, and have struggled this season, but Fosu-Mensah hasn’t been permitted to play for them.
Baffling, too, is the situation of left-back Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. On Wednesday, the Englishman temporarily returned to United to play for the under-23s in the Premier League International Cup fixture against FC Porto. Borthwick-Jackson hasn’t played for Wolves since November, but was not recalled from his loan move in the January transfer window.
Under-23s left without striker
Meanwhile, the under-23s saw left-back Joe Riley join Sheffield United on loan in January and midfielder Sean Goss join QPR on a permanent deal. For the first half of the season, United had no striker. You’d assume that they’d bring a player in, as they did with Andy Kellett last season, to sort that issue in January. Yet for the second half of the season, United still have no striker. Players are being played out of position consistently, losing confidence with the under-23s winning just four of their 17 Premier League 2 games this season, now in the relegation zone.
From under-18 level down, United’s academy has seen vast improvement in the last year. But the under-23s and their players have been virtually left to rot, deprived of help that could be offered in Fosu-Mensah. He and players like Borthwick-Jackson have also been subject to terrible treatment while Mourinho must soon be prepared to throw young players like Tuanzebe in at the deep end and not shirk from giving his talented youngsters a chance to show their quality.