Vermijil and de laet. Maybe michael keane in a couple years.

sergio ramos is what we need....we should buy him immediately

want to see Richie Da Laet back from loan as soon as possible.and giving some valuable back up at full back position

Is'nt Vermijil, supposed to be good? LB, but can play anywhere. If i remember correctly, Fergie said something, like his knowledge of the game at his age is great..... I could be wrong

Jamie1979:

i think smlling eagerness to get forward is down to the exuberance of youth, in years to come i think his ability to do such things will wane consderably, even by the age of 24-25, though as you say, he has been impressive pre-season there and last back end when he was tried there, but in the long term id agree that we should be looking to bring another full back through the ranks or if no-one is of that level, bring one in.

Do you remember Rio when he was a kid at west ham comin on as sub up-front and scoring?? may have even been his debut although i might be wrong! youthful exuberance same as Smalling, but by the age of 23ish, you wouldn't have entertained the idea of him playing there. my point is that there are people who could do a job, especially when young and more adaptable but in the not too distant future we will need to be looking at where are next full backs are coming from. to my mind we got 2 right backs Raf and Fabio and no natural succesor to Evra on that left side, which will need to be addressed soonish.

I'd agree with most of that. Most of the younger first-teamers are pretty versatile, maybe that is the solution until one of the youth teamers is ready to step up. I wouldn't mind just one more full-back though, not necessarily as competition, but definitely for cover. Don't think we should be going out spending a ton of money mind you.

Re: Ferdinand, I'm sure he started off as a centre-foward and ended up getting dropped back.

i think smlling eagerness to get forward is down to the exuberance of youth, in years to come i think his ability to do such things will wane consderably, even by the age of 24-25, though as you say, he has been impressive pre-season there and last back end when he was tried there, but in the long term id agree that we should be looking to bring another full back through the ranks or if no-one is of that level, bring one in.

Do you remember Rio when he was a kid at west ham comin on as sub up-front and scoring?? may have even been his debut although i might be wrong! youthful exuberance same as Smalling, but by the age of 23ish, you wouldn't have entertained the idea of him playing there. my point is that there are people who could do a job, especially when young and more adaptable but in the not too distant future we will need to be looking at where are next full backs are coming from. to my mind we got 2 right backs Raf and Fabio and no natural succesor to Evra on that left side, which will need to be addressed soonish.

Moyesy:

Its a good point actually, about Carling Cup games.

Im guessing when everyone is fully fit it would be; r/f da silva, Jones, Smalling, Evans

But if one or two pick up an injury? Im not sure.... I dont know exactly, but i guess Rio, Vida and Evra havent played many CC games between them recently.

That's what I was thinking. I'm just wary of playing centre-backs at full-back, as you lose something on the attack - Evans is a lot less likely to make the same kind of overlaps as Evra does, simply because he's a different type of player. Although I must say I was impressed with Smalling's stint at right-back vs Chicago Fire, he looked very eager to go forward.

Its a good point actually, about Carling Cup games.

Im guessing when everyone is fully fit it would be; r/f da silva, Jones, Smalling, Evans

But if one or two pick up an injury? Im not sure.... I dont know exactly, but i guess Rio, Vida and Evra havent played many CC games between them recently.

MarcRed:

Tom Thorpe captained the youth team last season, I think he looks a decent centre half.  Then at left back there is Tyler Blackett who's only just turned 17, he can also play in the centre but I really rate him as a left back.

Other than that, nobody particularly impresses me, I'm far more excited by the midfield and attacking players we've got in the system at the minute.

Yeah a lot of people are excited by Pogba and Morrison, though Morrison's off-the-field life seems to be a litte concerning.

A lot of former captains of the youth team seemed like they had a great chance of getting somewhere, but we've seen a few sold for relatively low amounts, Eagles and Cathcart spring to mind there. I do find it strange how few defenders have come out of the system and stayed with us.

Tom Thorpe captained the youth team last season, I think he looks a decent centre half.  Then at left back there is Tyler Blackett who's only just turned 17, he can also play in the centre but I really rate him as a left back.

Other than that, nobody particularly impresses me, I'm far more excited by the midfield and attacking players we've got in the system at the minute.

Apologies if people take exception to me starting a new thread.

Does anyone know if we have any decent prospects in defence coming through the youth system? I know we have Smalling and Jones, and Evans came through there, but we bought CS & PJ, and I was wondering what the youth/reserves prospects for full-backs are like?

It's been a fair while since we've seen anything come out of the system and look like they actually stood a chance of getting into the first team defence. We've had a fair few in most other positions, but we seem to have had a bit of a drought at the back. Is there anyone in the youth/reserve setup who looks like they might be able to provide cover for Evra and the Da Silvas?

I know Evans, Smalling and Jones have played there before, but all three (I think) have admitted that they prefer to be centre-backs. It makes me wonder what kind of a team we'd put out in the league cup if we were resting the first teamers (i.e. if Evra & Rafael/Fabio were rested, and Smalling and Jones played centre-back). Again, I know that various first-teamers have covered there in the past: Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs, Valencia etc. but I think it would be great to see a young out-and-out full-back step up to the mark, if we have one.