The curious case of Freddy Veseli.

After a week or so break from blogging I thought I had best give myself a kick up the backside and get one done this week. And the topic today will be the laughable jibes of Frederic Veseli.

The 19 year old Swiss defender joined Manchester United on the last day of the transfer window in perhaps one of the strangest moves of the window. Now I couldn't actually care less about the actual transfer, and I'm not entirely bothered by what has been said either, but it's topical and something to write about.

The young defender failed to make an impact in the first team at City despite early signs of promise. He captained the Swiss U17 to world cup victory and has been a main feature in the youth ranks and EDS. He travelled to America on City's pre-season tour and took part in two of the games and did ok. Certainly nothing to write home about. The Closest he actually came to competitive action was being named on the bench once for a league cup game.

Veseli took to Twitter shortly after the confirmation of his transfer declaring his delight at joining United and delight that they had drawn level on points with City as well as adding #UNITEDCHAMPIONS to one of his tweets. Fickle much?

His agent felt like stirring it a little before the move had even gone through by saying he was moving to the "greatest club in the world" and that "l'avenir est ROUGE" (the future is red). Sounds like the next Kia Joorabchian if you ask me and about as professional.

It's not often players speak ill of each other when they've just left a club, but his actions prompted several of his ex-teammates to ask him to "show some respect", and quite rightly too. His actions showed a distinct lack of gratitude to the Club that actually brought him to England in 2008 and developed him to the point he is at.

Anyway, enough of that. What was the reason for such a move? His agent, Adam Bouskouchi, says it's because since City were taken over by the Sheikh, they have taken their focus of developing youth.

"These days, Manchester City are chasing titles and major trophies."

"It is difficult for them to have faith in youth because they obviously feel experience is the best way for them to get where they want to go.

"But that attitude didn't help Freddie, who just felt like he wasn't progressing. On that pre-season tour, both Roberto Mancini and - director of football - Brian Marwood said how well he had done. But since then, nothing."

The problem with what Bouskouchi is saying is that it's complete nonsense. It's no secret that City have had to go out and buy experienced players of a certain level to reach the targets set out for them. This also means that the current Academy and EDS have to up their game to get a chance in the first team.

We've seen a lot of the older EDS player leave recently due to them not being at the required level. And why is that? Because the bar at City has been raised almost immeasurably in the last 3 seasons. I have little doubt that Veseli may have had his chance in the squad had City been where they were  years ago, but they're not.

In the past City have possibly been guilty of looking at quantity over quality, with a large number of players coming through the ranks and getting a chance in the squad but only a small number of them were good enough to keep their place.

What City have had to do since the takeover is slowly move on the players that they don't feel will match up to the new standards, keeping the ones that they believe will, and bring in fresh players of a certain level to improve the overall standards within the youth set up.

One of these players, Karim Rekik, joined City in the summer at 16 years old. Karim almost instantly went ahead of Frederic in the pecking order and has been preferred in several games for the first team this season when the opportunity has presented itself.

In recent seasons we have also seen Dedryk Boyata emerge as a promising young defender at City and is currently on loan at Bolton to gain more experience. There are several other very promising players in the same situation as Dedryk and will be looking to push for a spot in the squad in the next season or two. So this notion that City have somehow forgot about their academy is a little stupid, almost as stupid as him moving to United to get a chance in the first team.

As the media like to put it, United are famed for their academy and ability to 'bring through youth', so much so that they still have 2 players of the class of 92 playing in the squad, one of which has just been called out of retirement because Ferguson doesn't trust his youth enough to give them a chance.

I wont go in to the reality of their academy and the apparent ability to bring through quality players from their own ranks. Those claims are largely exaggerated by the fans and media as they've had no one of real talent come through there since 1992.

Unfortunately for Veseli he was about 9th in line for a starting role at centre-back behind the likes of Kompany, Lescott, Toure, Savic, Boyata, Rekik, Meppen-Walter and right-back Micah Richards. Even at United he will be at least behind Ferdinand, Vidic

In short, Frederic is a jealous young man who was pushed further down the pecking order by a player 2.5 years his junior. Now at that age, that's got to be a little embarrassing so I'll forgive him his transgressions. But, just remember, it's not City's fault you hardly developed in the last 2 years is it?

It's not City's fault that several other young players are before you in the cue, so next time you have your agent speak out about City's apparent lack of youth development, stop and think for a minute and take a look around you.

But never mind Freddy, judging by your distinct lack of class and respect on the day of your transfer, you'll feel right at home at United.




Twitter: @MikeWalshmcfc or @mcfcDSLeftFoot.
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot