The year is 2020 and Manchester United are in a mad rush to buy players left, right, and center to strengthen the squad.
The circumstances beyond their control have changed things massively and they need to act quickly and decisively to avoid getting left far behind.
The circumstances in question are the ramifications of Brexit and the team that needed strengthening at the time was the academy groups.
Six players arrived over the course of a year or two, all of them the cream of the crop from which they arrived.
Four years after that spending spree, Manchester United are selling the crown jewel of that spending spree which also landed them a generational talent in Alejandro Garnacho.
Hannibal Mejbri was the crown jewel
In the 12-18 months leading up to the new Brexit regulations for players transfers coming into effect, United bought some talented teenagers, some of whom fans might be familiar with today.
From FC Sochaux came a certain Willy Kambwala, who has joined Villarreal this season in a win-win deal for all parties.
Spanish elite were raided for the signatures of three players- Marc Jurado from FC Barcelona, Alvaro Fernandez from Real Madrid, and a 16-year-old winger named Alejandro Garnacho.
There was a Norwegian wonderkid, Isak Hansen-Aaroen, who, at 15, was the youngest of the lot but is a Bundesliga player today.
However, the crown jewel of the recruitment spree was Hannibal Mejbri, a name turning heads in French youth football.
He was the costliest acquisition at nearly €10 million from Monaco, a price practically unheard of for a 16-year-old at the time.
Tipped to be following in the footsteps of Kylian Mbappe at the time, Mejbri today is close to a move to Burnley in the Championship after successive failed loans and not being able to break into the Manchester United squad.
And with that move, United will have given up on the crown jewel of that recruitment spree, while ending up with a generational talent in Alejandro Garnacho.
The unpredictability of youth development
The fate of those six players perfectly sums up just how many things need to go right for a youth player to make a breakthrough.
Talent is a big thing, but it’s far from the only thing, as luck, manager in place, playing position, and attitude go a long way.
For Mejbri, Bruno Fernandes’ arrival ended his first-team chances, while ill-advised loans never allowed those chances to resuscitate.
Alvaro Fernandez had the luck of the loans, as he impressed at multiple teams to now be a first-team player for Benfica.
Marc Jurado had no such luck, and he now plays for Espanyol B, trying to make it back to the big leagues.
Kambwala’s breakthrough was most unexpected, as a freak injury crisis thrust him into first-team action which he leveraged to earn a move to Spain with Villarreal.
Hansen-Aaroen was in a similar boat to Mejbri, minus the loans. His attacking midfield position had been held hostage by Fernandes while in the case of Garnacho, talent met opportunity and sparks flew.
However, talent doesn’t disappear overnight and Hannibal would hope that Burnley is the place where his talent meets an opportunity.
It’s too late to live up to the lofty comparisons he was earning as a 16-year-old prodigy, but a career at the top level could yet materialise.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
