Manchester United fans divided as club accept ‘shockingly low’ offer for promising youngster Zidane Iqbal
The frustration seems to be not just about letting a young talent go but the club's history of poor sales, whereas many others are calling it an overreaction.
The Manchester United fan base has been left split following the news that an offer has been accepted for promising youngster, Zidane Iqbal, with the academy player set to join FC Utrecht imminently after more than 10 years at the club.
20-year-old Zidane Iqbal has been revered as one of the brightest young talents in Man United‘s academy for a number of years now, finding his way onto the bench seven times in the Premier League and a further nine times in the Europa League last season.
However, despite making his debut back in 2021 to become the first-ever British South Asian player to play for the club, flitting between the youth ranks and sitting as an unused sub has very much been the story of his United career over the past year or so and he is now set to leave on a permanent deal.
According to The Athletic‘s David Ornstein, the Manchester-born Iraqi international scouted by the Red Devils while playing for his local side, Sale United, is soon to depart Old Trafford for the Eredivisie side for just £855,000 (around €1 million) on a four-year contract with a “significant sell-on clause”.
🚨 EXCL: Man Utd have accepted an offer from FC Utrecht to sign Zidane Iqbal on a permanent transfer. Deal for 20yo Iraq midfielder worth up to €1m + significant sell-on clause for #MUFC. Medical done, set to join on 4yr contract @TheAthleticFC#FCUtrechthttps://t.co/CuDJOkLW8a
Now, while it has been reported that his exit was planned as early as the beginning of last season (the only debate being whether it would be a loan or permanent), Iqbal apparently asked to leave as early as January but was told he could not due to the ongoing injury crisis.
However, the local lad still failed to make a single appearance under Erik ten Hag and was then left frustrated when the manager didn’t allow him to with the Iraq national team to the U20 World Cup which finished earlier this month, despite not being given any opportunities in the first-team.
And it is that fact that has left many United fans disappointed as despite crying to see more of him in the likes of the Europa League and domestic cup games, he is now about to leave his boyhood club without ever having got the chance to kick a ball at the senior level.
Becoming the latest academy prospect that fans once thought could have a big future to say goodbye, it has left many wondering whether it’s the right move and what could have been if he had been given a proper chance.
Fee that we are selling him for is ridiculous and more gutted that he never got a single minute in any competition for United this season despite showing promise in the pre season. Even Ralf Rangnick gave him an appearance in a CL game at OT.
As you can see, beyond just the outgoing itself and the loss of a much-admired academy midfielder, one of the most concerning parts for many supporters is the money itself, with several noting that his reported fee is basically the equivalent of two weeks’ worth of Jadon Sancho‘s wages.
Moreover, although he may not have had the game time to prove himself on the pitch at the top level and potentially drive up his price, the likes of Man City have managed to move on promising youth players for significant money in the same situation.
The argument seems to be that the red half of Manchester just isn’t very good when it comes to transfer business and player sales, in particular. In fact, since 2018, the club have only received upwards of £20m for a player twice — Romelu Lukaku and Dan James — with many players leaving for free.
🤦♂️ Zidane Iqbal will be joining FC Utrecht for €1million – a shockingly low deal.
The fee has been described by many as ‘shockingly low’.
When you break it down like that, it doesn’t make for great reading, does it?
He was obviously unproven in the Prem and had simply remained under that ‘one to watch’ status, but United’s heritage of bringing young players through and seeing the likes of Alejandro Garnacho thrive as he has this season understandably left some thinking the move is premature.
On the other hand, many fans are arguing that there was no standout reason to keep Iqbal at the club and that some of the response to his departure has been a bit of an overreaction, especially when considering the possibility of him continuing to sit on the bench and wasting prime years in his career.
Then again, that’s always the risk you take when you let a youth prospect go.
Hope the move works out well for him. He’s too good to be spending a season waiting for first team football and by all accounts is a decent lad.
Reminds me a bit of the Angel Gomes situation, and I was gutted when we let him go. He’s about to turn 23 and is now a regular starter for a top half of the table team in France, being offered football he wouldn’t have had at United. But the decision to let him leave was right.
Many shocked about Iqbal being sold but they really need to wake up and stop thinking the likes of him, Mengi, Savage etc are going to be world beaters after they finish ‘developing’ Our support lives in cloud cuckoo land
Nevertheless, Man United fans are still overwhelmingly wishing him the best for his move to the Netherlands where he’ll hopefully get plenty of first-team football. After all, that’s the dream, isn’t it?
As for Iqbal himself, there’s no question as to what representing the club meant to him and he’ll always be a significant part of the United’s history.
We always want to see Mancs do well — go and smash it, lad!
🗣️ "I've grown up playing for the academy and I love the club”
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
🔵 Subscribe to our Manchester City page on BBC Sounds for the latest interviews. #MCFC#bbcfootball
Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Danny Jones -
21st June 2023 
