MANCHESTER UNITED made a mistake letting Alvaro Carreras leave, according to one of their former scouts.
Piotr Sadowski, who spent seven years tracking and recommending players to his Old Trafford bosses, slammed the club for blocking the first-team pathway for talented teenagers.
The Polish talent spotter reckons United “gave up” on Carreras, who is now at Real Madrid, and made a “huge mistake” when they let him join Benfica last year.
Sadowski told Przeglad Sportowy: “He came to Manchester United when he was probably 16.
“A very hard-working and ambitious boy, he learned the language quickly – I know because I met him personally.
“Initially, his career path was quite good. He was loaned to Preston, received good reviews, and… United gave up on him, selling him to Benfica for a small fee.
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“Carreras is a truly top-class player. There’s a good chance he’ll become the best, or one of the best, left-backs in the world. He scored a beautiful goal recently against Valencia in La Liga.
“It was a huge mistake for United to let him go.
“Something is missing here and I think that something is United’s lack of courage in investing in young players.”
The scout believes United’s £25m purchase of Patrick Dorgu earlier this year has been a failure, describing the 21-year-old Danish international as a “dud”.
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He added: “Honestly, having recently worked at Blackburn Rovers and operating on a much lower transfer budget, I would have had no problem finding a few players of Dorgu’s level for United, but for £25m, you could get four.
“Now, United are wary of bringing in youngsters. Amorim was supposed to be the one to do this, but the results haven’t been right, so he prefers to buy ready-made players.
“Whether he has anyone to choose from in the backroom is another matter. In my opinion, Harry Amass is the only player currently capable of making it into the United first-team squad after returning from his loan spell.”
