Last night Manchester United’s kiddies beat Arsenal’s youngsters in the second leg of the FA Youth Cup semi-final, booking a final spot against Liverpool.
The reverse (United lost 1-0 in the first leg at the Emirates) does not suddenly mean that United’s batch of youngsters are better than Arsenal’s – that sort of prick-waving gets us no where. Plus we’ve already covered the youth team policy comparison last time.
Personally, I would like to see players from both youth teams get a shot in their respective first teams in the next four years. From Arsenal’s end I think Fran Merida, Kieran Gibbs and Nacer Barazite are the most likely candidates, while from Manchester United’s crop Ben Amos (too bad he has Foster and Kuszczak ahead of him), Craig Cathcart, Febian Brandy and Antonio Bryan look to be good bets.
Which brings me to the whole point of this post – if you were to pick teams from both youth squads for a 5-a-side game, who would be on your list?
We tend to focus on the players sitting in the reserves and those out on loan, but as with Craig Cathcart traveling to Roma, there are certain players at the academy level who are good enough to play for the first team in a pinch.
Who do you see as Arsenal’s best 5 young players? Manchester United’s?
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