Tuesday, 2nd September, 2014
Former Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan feels his old club have have signalled a change in approach by selling Danny Welbeck to Arsenal and signing Radamel Falcao.
Welbeck, a product of Manchester United's youth system, was offloaded to Arsenal last night for a fee of £16m, while Falcao was brought in from Monaco on an initial season-long loan.
Manchester United have always looked to give priority to homegrown talents and Phelan is concerned the sale of Welbeck, along with departures for a clutch of other young starlets – Nick Powell to Leicester (loan), Tom Lawrence to Leicester (permanent), Michael Keane to Burnley (loan), Tom Cleverley to Aston Villa (loan, pending confirmation) – could signal a change at Old Trafford.
"There is always the start of something and maybe this is the start of a new way of doing things at Manchester United and maybe that is the way football is going", Phelan explained to the BBC.
"Is it better to look at the instant rather than the future?
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"It is a difficult one because youth is always the future, we all have to start somewhere and you just hope that product of youth can develop in the Premier League."
And Phelan feels the sale of Welbeck has affected the identity of the club, though he accepts he does not know what will happen in the future.
"They have probably lost the way of Manchester United a little bit.
"Now, rather than produce, it may be the case where they are buying in.
"Someone like a Danny Welbeck has been part of United's identity and that has been broken.
"What will happen in the future now, nobody knows but that thread has been broken now."
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