Youth Development: Scouted | Man Utd 2017 | Football Manager 2017

This is our second update in the Youth Development series here on vivalavidafm.com. For the first post, which includes a season overview for the 2016-2017 season and a progress report on six youngsters from the Man Utd youth system, follow this link here.

Youngsters Signed

Over the duration of season one, we scouted several young players with great potential who we debated about bringing into our club. We decided on four players, two signed in late August 2016 and two signed at the beginning of January 2017. The following post will show how these players progressed over their first year or six months at Old Trafford.

Here is a list of our transfers in from 16/17. The four young players we are going to be looking at are American Christian Pulisic, French youngster Dayot Upamecano, Portuguese winger Francisco Trincao and FM16 Hall of Famer Dutchman Riechedly Bazoer.

Christian Pulisic

Rather disappointingly, Pulisic made no attribute increases over his first year at the club. We sent Christian out on loan to Celta Vigo in La Liga, who had an impressive season finishing fourth. Christian himself played 18 games, scoring 5 goals and assisting 3 with an average rating of just over 7. Not bad for a 17-year-old. I’m hoping for a big improvement next year.

Dayot Upamecano

Attribute Developments

Tackling +2

Heading +2

Many other attributes also increased by two, highlighting Dayot’s excellent progress this year. I am very impressed with the young Frenchman’s progression after joining for £2M from Red Bull Salzburg. Dayot did not spend any time at Old Trafford, instead returning to Salzburg for first team football in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Francisco Trincao

Attribute Developments

Crossing +2

Long Shots +2

Francisco Trincao is one of the most exciting prospects I have seen so far on FM17. And bought for a miserly fee of £750K from SC Braga in Portugal. Trincao played 1 game for Manchester United in the Premier League, starting against Crystal Palace at the beginning of May. He is certainly one to watch for the future.

Riechedly Bazoer

Attribute Developments

Leadership +1

The eldest of our ten players to watch so far, Riechedly made a name for himself on FM16, where he would often develop into world class centre mid. He, like Upamecano, has yet to arrive at Old Trafford, instead remaining at Ajax to continue playing first team football. He hasn’t improved greatly over his first year, but I’m hoping for a change over season two.

Future of the series

I am planning to have an update post for both homegrown and scouted talent at the end of each season I play. This may increase, depending on how many players I wish to talk about. In terms of regens, the players that came through the youth set-up at Man Utd were poor. Therefore I decided not to include any of them in my homegrown post. However any decent regens that come through the ranks will be included there.

I hope you enjoyed our first ‘scouted’ post in our Youth Development series. Stay tuned for more!

VivaLaVidaFM