One of Manchester United’s former youth coaches, Neil Wood, has explained how he is surprised at an expensive mistake his ex-club made in selling Alvaro Carreras.
Manchester United’s approach to their youth teams took a major change several years ago and now there looks to be a lot of potential successes coming out of Carrington.
Ruben Amorim used the likes of Chido Obi and Harry Amass last season and he is expected to introduce more talents to the first-team squad next term.
But the Reds have made some mistakes when it comes to the Academy, with their most prominent one joining Real Madrid as a £43 million signing earlier this week.
Alvaro Carreras was announced as a new Real Madrid player on Monday evening, one year after he departed United to join Benfica permanently.
Wood cannot believe United’s huge mistake with Carreras
Carreras, 22, joined United in the summer of 2020 and he was developing at an exciting rate. After being awarded the Under-21s Player of the Season for the 2021/22 campaign, the defender then enjoyed a successful loan spell in the Championship with Preston North End in 2022/23.
When he returned to Old Trafford in the following summer, Erik ten Hag was having major troubles at left-back with Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia both suffering injuries. But the Dutchman decided that he did not need Carreras, who instead join Granada on loan.
Shortly afterwards, in January 2024, the left-back switched to Benfica on loan, who had a buy-option of £5 million which they decided to activate once the season concluded.
After shining in Portugal, Carreras has now earned a move back to Madrid and his former Under-23s manager, Neil Wood has made his feelings clear about United’s mistake.
“I am a little surprised he didn’t get more of a chance,” Wood explained, as per The Athletic. “When I left to go to Salford (in 2022), I had a good chat with him and my challenge to him was to go and challenge the likes of Luke Shaw for the left-back position. I think he was capable of doing that.
“Maybe it wasn’t the right time to put him straight into the first-team, but maybe if they had a plan for him at that stage to go a club on loan… that would have been a smart decision. If he was there (at United) now, I think he’d be really competing for the No 1 left-back spot.”
United fans agree with Wood over Carreras exit
Many United supporters seem to have the same opinion as Wood. It wasn’t exactly a secret that Carreras was one of the best talents in the Academy at the time.
Of course, on the flip side, Amass has made his first-team debut and also looks a tremendous talent. There was probably only going to be room for one of them in the squad over the long-term.
But the frustrating part is that Carreras didn’t even get a chance during a crisis moment for Ten Hag. The club should have never sanctioned a deal to sign Sergio Reguilon on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.
Perhaps if he got that opportunity, Carreras would have been able to impress but it never came, and it looks to be one of the biggest mistakes in terms of Academy exits in recent years.
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