Teenage striker Charlie McNeil has agreed to move from Manchester City to Manchester United, after scoring over 600 goals for his former side.
McNeil turned 17-years-old earlier this week and, according to The Times, agreed terms with United and passed a fitness test for the club.
The two rivals have been in negotiations for months and, had they not been able to come to an agreement, they were set for a tribunal to decide the fee.
Instead they have agreed a £700,000 price for the youngster, with up to £1 million potentially owed in add ons for the youngster.
A United fan, McNeil moved to rivals City from his boyhood club for £12,000 six years ago and he has been credited with scoring a ridiculous amount of goals in youth football since.
He has won caps with England under 16s but decided to leave City in the summer when his contract expired due to a lack of opportunities for him at under 18 level for the club.
The likes of Juventus, RB Leipzig and Rangers were all interested in signing the teenager and United will be very happy to have beat their European rivals to a potentially big signing.
United have already signed Alejandro Garnacho, Marc Jurado, Alvaro Fernandez, Isak Hansen-Aaroen, Joe Hugill, Logan Pye and Radek Vitek to their academy this summer as they continue to try and close the gap on their rivals.
The club were dealt a blow this week when assistant under 23 coach, and former player, Quinton Fortune decided to leave Old Trafford to become a coach with Reading's first team.
Neil Wood continues to be in charge of the under 23 squad and McNeil is expected to join them in training to see how he handles the improvement in quality at that level.
United's academy created the famous 'Class of 92' and every generation of players since has been compared with the likes of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville.
The current first team includes Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Scott McTominey, Brandon Williams, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Axel Tuanzebe who all came through the youth system and Dean Henderson has also returned from his loan spell at Sheffield United for this season.
United have lost Irish youngster Deji Sotona, with the winger rejecting a contract from the club.
source https://www.sportbible.com/football/transfers-rivalries-manchester-united-sign-600-youth-goal-striker-from-rivals-city-20200911
0 Comments