Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is not concerned/worried/particularly intimidated by the new Manchester City Football Academy, which just formally opened. The £200 million training complex, the CFA, has been built across the road from the Etihad Stadium on a brownfield site in east Manchester.
It contains 16 football pitches, including the biggest indoor pitch in the United Kingdom, and even a luxury hotel.
According to ESPN FC, ten of those pitches have undersoil heating, eight are floodlit and one, the Academy Stadium where the Elite Development Squad and the women’s team will play, has a capacity of 7,000.
Van Gaal doesn’t think it will give the Citizens a leg up in landing the best prospects in the region though.
“The building is not so important, the accommodation is not so important, it’s the philosophy and the staff that’s important,” Van Gaal said at Carrington, the club’s own training ground.
“Then comes of course the talent.”
Van Gaal refused to compare the next generation of United players to those on City’s books, however.
“I don’t have the time to compare the talents and the staff with each other so I cannot answer that question,” said Van Gaal.
In a semi-related story, Van Gaal responded to the “warning” that Liverpool Manager Brendan Rodgers “gave” him in the preseason about getting caught off guard by the transition to the Premier League.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2