Glazers signed their own ‘Diego Leon’ for Man Utd, what happened next is a lesson for Ineos

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Manchester United’s signing of Diego Leon has set the pulses racing because the South American market is always brimming with young talent.

The fans rue how Man Utd missed out on signing Moises Caicedo from Ecuador due to the Glazers being indecisive, paving the way for Brighton to swoop in.

How that blunder has aged doesn’t need describing; Caicedo’s displays are doing it for everyone.

However, while the Glazers missed out on signing Caicedo, they did manage to sign their own “Diego Leon“. Only what happened next is a lesson for Ineos.

Glazers’ own Diego Leon-esque signing was Facundo Pellistri

October 5, 2020. More than a month after the official closing of the transfer window, Man Utd made a signing that was very unlike them.

From Penarol in Uruguay, United signed an 18-year-old diminutive winger, Facundo Pellistri, who was making waves and being propped up as a potential international for the national team.

Coming from South America, the trickery and technical excellence were there, and Man Utd fans hoped that after some time with the U21s, he would come into his own.

United were finally doing what they hadn’t for so long, which was to sign players before they became superstars by being proactive.

Nearly five years on from that day, Pellistri is struggling to make an impact in the Greek league for Panathinaikos, his United career failing to take off after successive loan spells and upheaval in the management structure at Old Trafford.

Pellistri’s fumbling is a lesson for Ineos on Diego Leon

Now, Ineos have signed Diego Leon, and he comes similarly highly rated. Like Pellistri, he became a regular for his club, Cerro Porteno, while he was just 17.

He’s been tipped as a future international as well, and United went above and beyond to sign him.

Ineos have a few lessons to learn from the club’s fumbling of Pellistri’s development so that Leon doesn’t suffer the same fate.

For starters, Pellistri wasn’t given the right support structure. He was thrown with the U21s with no clear pathway to first-team football.

When he showed glimpses of his potential with Alaves in Spain, he came back to find the first-team door shut again, and the next loan, to Granada, was sealed with no thought process behind it, as he was relegated.

United have announced Leon’s signing with the declaration that he will spend time as a floater between the first-team and the U21s, and Ineos’ new strategy for youth players should benefit him too.

Leon has multiple things in his favour that Pellistri didn’t. United have a settled management structure now, the youth push is going strong, he’s physically ready, and most importantly, Pellistri’s fumbling tells the club what not to do with Leon.

United signed players before they became superstars under the Glazers too. The challenge is to make them superstars at Old Trafford.

Glazers failed with Pellistri. Ineos can make that right by succeeding with Leon.