In his last squad, Roy Hodgson called up 6 United players to his squad, with it being generally accepted that it would have been 7 if Phil Jones had been fit (especially after his stellar performance against Real Madrid). It would have been 8 if Rio Ferdinand had bothered to show up, and it will be 9 next season judging off the goals and chances created by Wilfred Zaha for England U-21s – his move to United in the summer has already been agreed.
When you throw into the mix the fact that other United players have already played for the U21s – for example Nick Powell, Michael Keane and Will Keane, and you can see that there stands a reasonable chance of Manchester United dominating the England team in much the same way as Bayern dominate the Germany side.
With Chelsea and Arsenal slowly seeing their stock of taleted English players diminish as the years go by, with both clubs joining Man City in hunting for the best foreign talent, and being seemingly unwilling to splash the cash on over-inflated players from closer to home. Liverpool are trying their best – indeed quite a few of the U21 team is provided by the Liverpool academy, with Henderson, Sterling, and Shelvey teaming up in midfield – but the quality of the players isn’t quite as good as at thier Red Manchester rivals.
In the future, we could well see the team dominated by United. Whilst Hart will get the nod in nets, few would argue against Jones and Smalling being the centre-back partnership of the future – especially if they team up at OT too.
Carrick and Cleverley offer the right mix of dynamism and protection in center midfield, and could ostensibly play with Zaha and Young on the flanks alongside them (even if I do think Walcott is a better player). Throw Rooney and into the mix (sadly ooney is probably the first name on the team-sheet, in spite of his poor form) and you could conceivably have a first team where only the full-backs, and goalkeeper are from other clubs!?
Agree? Disagree? Join the debate on twitter – @ftbllr
