Manchester United decided to sell Maxi Oyedele last summer and the Legia Warsaw talent is now earning praise in Poland.
Ineos have shown a real desire to sign young players in the hope of developing the stars of the future at Old Trafford.
Chido Obi’s move from Arsenal to United summed up that approach, whilst Sekou Kone also completed a move to Old Trafford.
United have continued to sell homegrown talents, though, allowing young players to move on – often with future clauses included.
Buy-back and sell-on clauses have been rife with United looking to hold some stake in their futures away from Old Trafford.
A perfect case saw Maxi Oyedele sign for Legia Warsaw over the summer, with United placing a ‘significant’ sell-on clause in the deal.
Maxi Oyedele earns rave reviews in Poland
Oyedele hails from England – Salford to be exact – but was born to a Polish mother and Nigerian father, making him eligible for all three nations.
United never handed Oyedele his first-team debut and decided to let him complete a permanent move to Poland.
The 20-year-old has only played 12 times in Poland’s top flight this season, but has caught the eye.
Oyedele was called up by Poland earlier this season and made his debut against Portugal back in October.
Thursday saw Oyedele take another step forward in his development as he turned out for Legia Warsaw against Chelsea in the Europa Conference League.
The Polish media have praised Oyedele as ‘incredible’, believing that could have a huge future ahead of him – maybe even back in the Premier League.
“An incredible performance, the central midfielder has just started working towards another call-up to the Polish national team. Throughout the entire match with Chelsea, he was involved in a huge number of interceptions, interventions, and also blocked strong shots more than once. If he maintains this form and continues to develop, who knows, maybe he will be able to return to the islands for a longer time,” said Legia.net.
“At times he played as a centre-back, skillfully providing cover for his defensive partners. He made several important blocks,” said Piłka Nozna, rating Oyedele at 4.5 out of six.
“Definitely the brightest figure of the match. Tough, great in receiving and interceptions, very responsible in play, but not limited to passing the ball to the closest partner. This match showed how much potential lies in this boy,” said Weszlo, rating Oyedele at nine out of 10.
Oyedele played another 90 minutes as a defensive midfielder in a 2-1 win over Lechia Gdansk on Monday, with the former United talent on the rise in Poland.
- READ MORE: Bruno Fernandes shows how highly he rates Maxi Oyedele with gesture after Portugal vs Poland
Maxi Oyedele interview attracting attention
Oyedele may hail from Salford, but he conducted a post-match interview in Polish – and earned even more praise in the process.
The former United talent is still learning a ‘very different language’, but vowed to keep building his knowledge of Polish over the next year.
“I’m very happy. It was a great game today. My Polish isn’t that good yet. It’s a very difficult language, really. Another year and we’ll see how I speak Polish,” he added.
Fakt noted that many fans were blown away by Oyedele’s interview, suggesting that he is already making more effort to embrace Polish culture than Matty Cash, another English-born Poland player.
On the pitch and off the pitch, Oyedele is turning heads in Poland and the move away from Old Trafford appears to be working out perfectly for him as a player and as a person.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
