Expert issues ‘huge’ claim after Man United agree Alex Ouzounoglou deal
Alex Ouzounoglou has “huge” responsibility for bringing through the next generation of Man United stars.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
As relayed by Training Ground Guru on Monday (31 May), Ouzounoglou has left Burnley to become head of athletic development for the youth development phase at United.
Ouzounoglou, who is one of 15 staffers to leave Burnley since the ALK Capital takeover in December last year, will be responsible for nurturing the development of the Red Devils’ 12 to 16 age bracket.
Dinnery explained just how important his role is to United’s youth production line.
“It’s huge,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“In that seven to 11 bracket, it’s more about nurturing the qualities of athleticism. That’s things like speed, agility, balance etcetera.
“You have to let them be free to develop, and we call that free play. There isn’t too much structure. You don’t want to pigeonhole children because that way they can develop naturally.
“But when you hit 12 to 16, they are for the first time doing more sports-specific stuff. There is more of a focus on functional training. But again, that still needs to be managed very carefully.
“We often hear about burnout in young kids. It’s important to keep those people engaged and enjoying sport.
“If you don’t get this role right, you don’t get the rest of the youth setup right. You can lose people that way.”
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