Ones to watch: Charlie McNeill
He may still not be on the radar for most, but the early signs suggest Manchester United's Charlie McNeill can have a bright future
Welcome back to Marginal Pains, and er, Merry Christmas? Or all the best for the New Year? I don’t know. Hello anyway.
It’s David here and I’m bringing you the latest edition of our series looking at players who are worth keeping an eye on over the coming years.
Today we’re looking at Manchester United youngster, Charlie McNeill.
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It’s quite rare to see any player cross the Manchester divide from City to United, or vice-versa. It has happened, of course, Carlos Tevez famously did it in 2009, whilst the likes of Andy Cole, Andrei Kanchelskis and Peter Schmeichel have experienced life in both the Blue and Red halves of Manchester.
Both clubs are not only rivals geographically, but also in terms of competing for the top domestic and European honours in most seasons. These means neither wants to give the other any sort of edge.
With that in mind, it felt quite significant when United managed to poach one of City’s brightest rising stars earlier this season.
It was back in September when then-Manchester City prospect Charlie McNeill made headline news after he turned down a contract offer from the Blues to instead join his boyhood side and crosstown rivals Manchester United for a fee that could rise as high as £1.4m.
Coincidentally, McNeill joined City from United six years earlier for a fee of around just £12,000.
It’s a pretty sizeable sum for a player who isn’t yet a regular at U23 level, nevermind even close to making a senior appearance. However, with a reputation like the one he’s already forged, it is understandable why they were willing to pay it.
Whilst we don’t want to go all Pele on you here, it is worth noting that at City throughout various age groups, McNeill reportedly scored around 600 goals. In one year alone playing for City's U15s and England's U16s, he netted 110 goals and registered 38 assists in just 72 matches(!)
He’s started life at United well and has scored six goals across his previous eight league appearances, and whilst he’s still got a long way to go, the omens look good for a bright future.
The teenager is a versatile forward who can regularly be switched from an attacking midfield role to a forward one, with little drop off in his performance level.
He illustrates a capacity to knit things together well when playing as an attacking midfield, utilising quick one-touch passing and tidy footwork in tight spaces across the pitch. His passing capacity across the field is highlighted in his below pass map from his recent U18 fixture against Leeds.
In that same game, his quick feet led to the first goal of the game after he dribbled the ball into the box and was brought down for a penalty following a clumsy challenge from a Leeds defender.
The United youngster was quick to dust himself off and plant the ball down confidently on the spot. His confidence was reaffirmed after a deft panenka hit down the middle of the goal put his team 1-0 up.
He scored again later in this same match after beating a defender in a leg race and latching onto a swiftly hit ball played over the top of the Leeds defence. After latching onto the pass, he knocked the ball past the keeper charging out of his box to close him down before dribbling into the penalty area and then nonchalantly lobbing the ball into the goal from an extremely tight angle.
Data is sparse at U18 level, predominantly due to the lack of footage clubs like to release on their hot prospects. Yet, there are just under 300 minutes of data available for McNeill from appearances this season against Leeds, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Derby, and he’s a player I have scouted myself in person.
Whether playing as a centre-forward or as an attacking midfielder, McNeill is a constant goal threat when inside the attacking third, this is emphasised in that relatively small sample size of minutes with the teenager averaging a high 4.61 shots per 90.
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That impressive shot average is aided by his ability to take up good positions inside the penalty area and he’s averaged 5.53 touches inside the opposition’s box from across that aforementioned sample of matches. Again, we have to remember the significance of the small sample size here, but these are still promising numbers, particularly given that he’s only played as a CF for just under half of those minutes.
He is a player who will often ghost around the attacking third and has good technical skill which is boosted by his general two-footedness. This means that whichever foot the ball is played into, his first touch is normally a progressive one that aids him in evading tackles and pressure from opponents.
McNeill’s early career appeal isn’t all about just what he does on the ball though. He also presses coherently with fellow forwards around him when his team are out of possession, knowing what passing angles to cut out and how to make life more difficult for opposition players trying to pass their way up the field. He’s aggressive in these moments too, highlighted in the below.
That aggression can boil over at times and in one particular recent game vs Leeds, he committed four fouls, one of which was a kick out after being on the receiving end of a hefty challenge following a spell of some tight and frustrating man-marking from opposition defenders.
Learning to cope with this sort of treatment without losing his head will be something the 17-year-old will need to focus on as he continues to develop in the coming years.
This leads onto an important point that even despite his excellent start to the season, and football career in general, he’s still some way off being ready to compete for a spot within Ole Gunnar Solskajer’s squad.
Many youngsters have looked excellent at U18 level but failed to seamlessly shift from prospects to top senior players. Therefore there’s undoubtedly still a long way to go and plenty of work to be done.
However, you wouldn’t be surprised to seem him featuring for Neil Wood’s Under-23 side in the next 12 months, and if he continues to offer the same level of performances there, then the signs are good.
Should he continue to progress at the rate we are currently seeing, then there’s no reason why he can’t go on to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood over the next few years by graduating through the academy to become an integral first-team squad member.
For that reason, he’s certainly one to watch.
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