09 Feb 2025 11:09:54
Someone smarter than me needs to explain something to me.

Why is it better to send out youngsters on loan?

I get the fact that they will get first team experience but it's in a system that RA doesn't run. How is that going to help these youngsters when upon return they need to run this RA system.

Wouldn't it be better for them to remain at the club and get experience in this system with the youth teams.

1.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 12:13:28
I guess it can only be purely because it is a huge benefit to get the experience against tougher opposition when the players have outgrown the youth team. Ready to make the step up, but not necessarily to get in the first team. Like Obi, a lot feel he is there but not ready to be thrown up against Prem centre-backs. The fact he hasn't been shipped out to a Championship side suggests he might be on the brink of being included in the matchday squads.

2.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 13:40:14
There is a huge physical jump between youth football and the senior game so, while a youngster might have an abundance of talent, the step up often counts as an initial step back.
The difference between that step up/ step back happening at United or on loan elsewhere is spotlight - the apparent struggle of a youngster trying to adapt to senior football on loan at a smaller club will not make as much noise and will, subsequently, draw much less attention.

Anyone who thinks that simply chucking the youngsters into the fray of the modern physical game because of talent alone needs to find a different sport. Even the Class of '92 were brought through gradually with Beckham going out on loan and they would also ALL have found it tough going as 18yo kids in the modern game as it is now.

There are players like Kobbie, Archie Gray and Lewis-Skelly who manage that step up better, but they are unusual outliers in that they already possess physical attributes that a good many of their more senior peers lack.

As for the idea of academy football or loans to 'lesser' clubs entrenching within a player a process of thought that does not correlate with RA's system, that is rather disrespectful to those youngsters, the academy and any prospective loan club.
The main reason our senior team looks so clumsy with this system is that we lack the aggressive athleticism that the top clubs have so much of, the ability to overcome a tactical shortcoming with a physical action/ correction that can serve to plaster the crack.

Senior football is far more results-driven and therefore far more demanding of a player to get it right - a loan can serve to remove some of the abrasiveness from the pressure relevant to the step up.

With all that said, I'm probably only smarter than a Trumpwit, but the answer is pretty obvious.

3.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 15:02:47
They play against pros not kids.

4.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 16:49:30
for every 18 year old who can actually get into the main squad, there are 10 who are no where ready or good enough and will ever make it and hence loans and eventual sales is the route.

5.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 20:16:06
A sobering fact is that only 4% of teen academy prospects make it to the top tier of professional football.

Only 6% even go on to play in lower leagues.

Anything that can be done to try and beat those odds should be tried.

Another interesting fact is that those who do succeed excel in self confidence, ball reception skills, dribbling and coaches subjective technical assessments.

If you make it, the rewards are staggering but it sure as hell is hard getting there.

6.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 21:00:22
It's also good to remind them of the reality of life outside the cossetted top tier of football. It's hard and the kids need to learn that.

7.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 21:46:22
Playing men's football, at any level, is wildly different to academy football. A young player getting exposure to that early (only once they are ready) is hugely important.

Once the player has had that exposure it is perhaps more important to play in the system the manager wants to play, ideally you find a loan club with a similar ethos/ style.

8.) 09 Feb 2025
09 Feb 2025 23:32:47
Because the youth levels in England are pretty poor to be honest.

Growth and development can only happen in a challenging environment. At some point the youth leagues no longer present a challenge for young players, at which point they need a step up.

They need to play regularly at a higher level, ideally they would go on loan to a club that plays a very similar style of play as our first team. But that will be difficult. What's most important is they actually play regularly.

There can be other benefits to sending the kids out on loan. The one's who have only ever been in our academy and who have trained with the first team can be prone to arrogance as they are already at a top club. Sometimes a loan to a lower level can show them what their future could be if they don't knuckle down and listen to the manager.

9.) 10 Feb 2025
10 Feb 2025 21:15:48
I always thought it was to toughen them up, nothing better than having to face players in the lower leagues who while not have the skill level, will more than make up for it in aggression and a take no prisoners approach.