Date: 26th January 2011 at 1:25pm
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So Federico Macheda has joined Sampdoria on a six month loan to gain experience and, on the face of it, it can only be a positive thing for Manchester United.  A promising, young striker with an eye for goal gets regular first team football back in his home country.  Maybe he’ll grab a few goals and come back in the summer feeling better about himself, ready for the new season ahead.  He’ll obviously relish being on home soil as he has already stated that “Genoa is a beautiful city and I am happy.”  Win-win?

Forgive me if I sound cynical but I just fail to see what real progress is going to be made through this move.  Lets say he does score a few goals in his short time there, what does that mean for his career at United?  The truth is, not much at all.  The loan system is perfect for promising youngsters to hone their skills and gain valuable first team experience, we all know that.  But for it to be truly successful it needs to be implemented in a way that will make a lasting impact.  The players need to learn, gain confidence and grow.

United certainly know how to do this, you only need to look at the form of Danny Welbeck at Sunderland or Tom Cleverley at Wigan.  These two have not only benefitted from being elevated to the starting eleven but also being in the Premier League.  There is no doubt that they’ve learnt, gained confidence and grown as players – exactly what you want from a loan deal.  This is why the Macheda loan seems so pointless.  The Italian game is drastically different to the English and so defenders will defend differently.  It’s all well and good for him to bag a few back home but you can’t help but wonder what good could have come from the same loan move to West Brom?  It seemed perfect –  send him to the Hawthornes, playing under an Italian manager, get some first team football in the Premier League and then come back twice the player for it.  I hoped that Alex Ferguson would have talked some sense into him and sent him to the Midlands rather than Genoa.  Failing that, surely Kiko could see what his fellow team-mates were doing at other clubs and realise what he had to do?  Sadly, though, it seems the easier option of home and comfort took precedence over a chance to truly test himself as a player for the first time.

Fergie will have to keep a close eye on his progress after the loan has finished as there is always the chance United could lose out again.  If he comes back invigorated and ready to push for a first team place then he needs to be given his chance.  You get the feeling that he could be another Giuseppi Rossi, a player of genuine class allowed to leave far too soon.  Rossi, too, went out on loan in Italy to Parma before joining Villarreal for around £6.6 million. Nobody at Old Trafford wants that to happen.  Macheda is a natural finisher with a great turn of pace as well as being magnificently strong.  The flashes of goal scoring prowess we have seen have been fantastic for a player of his age.  He has the attributes to become a top striker but the question as to whether or not he has the attitude to fulfil his potential is yet to be answered.

We’ll wait patiently.

This piece is courtesy of guest blogger Sam Hughes – Ed

 

11 responses to “Macheda’s loan poses some real questions”

  1. Danny Salford Red says:

    Hate to say it but I will not be in slightest bit surprised if he ends up wanting to stay there and not come back. We will prob sell him for £5 million then enquire about him in two years and be quoted £25 million

  2. richards79 says:

    Agree we don’t want to lose this kid, but do you want to lose Wellbeck? Hernandez? The problem we have is we have 3 strikers, all very different in the way they play but similar age profile, young talented and needs game sot develop.

    It’s going to be extremely hard to keep them all happy when Rooney and Berbatov are our first choice 2.

  3. Matt says:

    If I had to choose between Macheda or Welbeck I’d have Welbeck every day.

  4. JB says:

    I agree with some of whats said in the article but to say that you view it as being a pointless exercise to me seems a bit short sighted. Yes the Italian league is different to the English one but it’s still a top league, if he can play regularly i fail to see how this move can’t aid his development in some way. I also believe that he has come out and said that with the experience he hopes to gain from being on loan,he hopes to put that into practice and push for a first team place at Man Utd next season. I think we should just be patient and i don’t see any reason to believe that he will be sold as the manager seems to have allot of confidence in him as a future player for us.

    • jonathan says:

      I’d agree with you, playing in the BPL is slightly more preferable, but it’s still the same sport at the end of the day and he’s playing on a good team at a very high level. For him, what’s more important that tactics is simply elevating his personal game and confidence.
      Plus, I’d rather he play for a competitive team in Italy than a relegation candidate BPL team where chasing the ball is the primary skill learned.
      Too bad though his move came before Bent’s move away from Sunderland. He would’ve played on a strong team that could use him alongside on old team mate in Welbeck.

      • Quis says:

        Fergie also said he did this to help Macheda get recognition in Italy for the national team. The kid is only 19, not playing full time he was being ignored. He has too much talent to not be on the Italian team.

  5. Ella Patterson says:

    He is Italian. Serie A has changed even in the short time he has been away. perhaps Fergie fears he may want to return home and hopes that a loan spell may let him see howw Serie A has deteriorated. He may no longer even think about leaving United for italy. Stop being so pessimistic! What is this 3 trikers bit – Macheda, Wellbeck, Chicha! What about Rooney, Ajose, keane, King? Do you actually watrch United?

  6. johnboy says:

    did you see the video of him training for samp…the facilities looked shocking compared to carrington..

    so hopefully he’ll come back, id give him and welbeck another season loan next year personally, both in england though!

    do we think welbeck can do a job on the left wing for us?

  7. Sam Hughes says:

    Thanks for the feedback.

    I’m not naive enough to believe it’ll have no positives whatsoever but I just feel that it would’ve been a much more rewarding move to go to West Brom. Relegation candidates they may be but if you have watched them play at all under Di Matteo then you’d see a side playing good football and creating lots of chances. Annoyingly against us both home and away. If Kiko was in that side then I’d imagine he get lots of chances, which is what he thrives on.

    It might be a tad pessimistic but I just worry that he chose the easier option in spite of a great chance to show what he can do in England.

    • jonathan says:

      Though my opinion on his move to Sampdoria is unchanged, I’ll conceed that playing for West Brom is not necessarily the same as it would be for Birmingham, Wolves – or sadly in Cleverley’s case, to Wigan. Di Matteo certainly deserves some credit.
      I think the best rumoured move at the time was to Everton who have a very good team until it comes to their forwards. He would’ve received good service from a quality midfield and indirectly help us against our rivals as Everton have the ability to compete against the best.
      What could’ve been I guess.