Football
9y

Louis van Gaal dismisses talk of Man City facility drawing youth talent

Manchester City are not guaranteed to get the pick of the best young players in the region despite spending 200 million pounds on a new training complex, warned Louis van Gaal after City unveiled their state-of-the-art training complex in Manchester this week.

The base, which is connected to the Etihad Stadium by bridge, includes a 7,000-seat stadium, 16 pitches and a luxury hotel, as well as cutting-edge technology which will aid opposition analysis and rehabilitation from injury.

City's first-team squad will be based there, as well as the club's youth sides.

Patrick Vieira, who runs City's elite development squad, said at the launch that youngsters in Manchester would have an "easy choice" when deciding where their future lies.

United have prided themselves on developing some of the best talent in history and Van Gaal is not too concerned about what is happening over in east Manchester.

"The building is not so important, the accommodation is not so important, it's the philosophy and the staff that's important,'' the United manager said at the club's own training ground on Friday ahead of a weekend match with Liverpool.

"Then comes of course the talent."

United have their own multi-million pound facility at Carrington, which is the envy of many clubs across Europe.

City have spent heavily on foreign imports since Sheikh Mansour took over in 2008, but they now hope to create their own stars, just as United did with the famous Class of '92.

Back then, the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and the Neville brothers won the FA Youth Cup before going on to become first-team stars.

Scholes, writing in his weekly column for the Independent on Friday, said he feared United would lose out on the battle for the best prospects in the region.

Van Gaal was not impressed with Scholes' words, particularly when they came just four days after Gary Neville had compared his former club to a pub team.

"Paul Scholes. Also a legend. He has to pay attention to his words also," said Van Gaal, who responded with the same barb when he was informed of Neville's criticisms following the highly fortuitous 2-1 win over Southampton on Monday.

Scholes highlighted United's recent struggles in the FA Youth Cup as a sign that the club's youth system is not perhaps as good as it once was.

United have been knocked out of the competition by Huddersfield and Burnley.

Van Gaal has played a number of youth players since he took over like Tyler Blackett, Paddy McNair and James Wilson.

He refused to compare the next generation of United players to those on City's books, however.

"I don't have the time to compare the talents and the staff with each other so I cannot answer that question," said Van Gaal, who has put an emphasis on developing young players during his successful management career.

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