NICKY BUTT has admitted it’s “impossible” to keep Manchester United kid Hannibal Mejbri “under the radar” following his high-profile transfer last summer.
The Red Devils managed to lure the young French midfielder from Monaco in a £9.3m deal in July, with the player aged just 16.
Butt wishes Man Utd had been able to keep Mejbri ‘under the radar’Credit: Getty
Nicky Butt is head of first-team development at Man UtdCredit: Getty
But thanks to the hype around him, United’s head of first-team development Butt is frustrated they weren’t able to shield him from other clubs, knowing he is now on their radars.
Butt admitted: “It’s hard to get him under the radar when we’ve chased him for so long and he’s come from a big club for a big fee, so that’s impossible.
“But you want to get young people under the radar because, coming from a different country and getting the price tag in your head and coming to one of the biggest clubs in the world, there’s going to be so much pressure in the first place.
“I’ve got a 16-year-old kid who, I would hate that pressure on their shoulders…
“But they have that and it’d be foolish to put them out there too soon, because you don’t know what’s around the corner. They’re children.”
Butt went on to admit that the route to the first-team isn’t always the same – saying that for every meteoric rise, like Marcus Rashford, there’s a loan ranger like Jesse Lingard.
Butt added: “There is a long road to the first team and big bumps and some are going to do what Mason [Greenwood] or Marcus [Rashford] have done…
“Some might go the Jesse [Lingard] way – going on loan five or six times and getting there.
“We’ve got some really good players that I believe will play for Man Utd. When, I don’t know.
“But they will play for Man Utd and, yeah, some of them have been brought through the ranks from seven, eight, nine or ten.”
Meanwhile, Butt has asked fans not to judge him yet – and to give him “two or three years” to bring the title back to Old Trafford.
Butt – part of the Class of 92 – continued: “I think you can judge me and the people who develop for the first team in hopefully two or three years when we’re challenging for titles.
“If you’re challenging for titles and getting players in the first team, that’s when you know you’re doing an unbelievable job.
“We’ve got some great kids coming into the first team now that are doing very well.
“But I think the peak of the mountain in my job is when Man Utd are where they should be – and will be again – and we’re still getting players into the first team.
“That’s when you can say we’re doing a really, really good job. We’re doing a good job now. Forget the young ones, the Under-12s, U13s, U14s… they’re always doing great.
“But me, [Under-18 coach] Neil Ryan and [Under-23 coach] Neil Wood and the support staff around that, when we’re getting players into the first team and we’re winning titles and getting to the later stages of the Champions League, then we’re doing an unbelievable job.”
Man United wonderkid Hannibal Mejbri scores sleek goal vs Man City U18s
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
