Out with the old, in with the new

Or so says Mark Ogden of The Telegraph in an article he wrote about United's radical youth revamp.

"...the United squad which starts the 2011-12 campaign could be the most youthful since Ferguson replaced Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis with emerging stars such as Neville, Scholes, David Beckham and Nicky Butt in the summer of 1995."

Ogden says that with guys like Neville and van der Sar not likely to be back next year - alongside Brown, Owen, Kuszczak, and Hargreaves - United are facing their biggest squad change in years. He makes a very valid point here, it is actually very impressive how many young players we are able to field on any given night and expect to perform. It's even scarier when you consider the talent that we have out on loan - Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, and Mame Biram Diouf to name a few.

That's not to say that I want to let these players go. Wes Brown's been at Manchester United his whole career and reliable when needed (for the most part at least). Owen Hargreaves is one of my favorite United players and it makes me sad that the injury bug's kept him out of the team for two years. It's like the Alan Smith situation, you can be a good player, but find yourself fighting for starting spots at the wrong time, then you might find yourself out of the team. Either way, it might be for the best as United's youth is producing/grooming some of the best young talent we've seen in years.


Here's my under-23 United XI, I reckon they're good enough to form their own team and compete in the Premier League. Hell, they'll probably manage to beat Liverpool too.

Amos
Rafael | Evans | Smalling | Fábio
Bébé | Anderson | Gibson | Obertan
Chicharito | Welbeck

And that's not including Cleverley, Macheda, and Diouf. Also, let's not forget the "elder statesmen" - Nani (who's 23 years old), Valencia (24), and Rooney (25).

The future looks bright my friends.