UD Almeria are currently sitting in 13th place in the La Liga table and among their ranks includes three former Manchester United academy graduates.
Signing one in each of the past three years, there has been a common factor among all the moves in that the players turned down contract offers from United in favour of free transfers to the Spanish club in search of first team playing time.
The first to make the move over was Largie Ramazani in the summer of 2020, followed by Arnau Puigmal in 2021, and finally Martin Svidersky who made the move last summer.
Speaking on his move, the MEN reports Ramazani said “what was the point of playing another season with the reserves? So, I wanted to try elsewhere.”
“I was almost at the end of my contract, and I had a good season with the second team.”
Sceptical of his development path in Manchester, the Belgian said “I did train a few times, but [the Europa League match vs. Astana] would be the only time I could play with the senior team. Did they do that because I played a good season, and I could help the team? Or because they wanted me to extend my contract?”
The young winger was a key part of Almeria’s promotion to La Liga, scoring eight goals last season in the league and has continued with another two this season against La Liga giants Real Madrid and Sevilla.
Another key figure in the Spanish club’s promotion was Puigmal, who made 33 appearances in the 21/22 season but so far has found his playing time limited in La Liga.
Meanwhile, the latest to sign in, Svidersky, has featured on the bench a number of times but has yet to make an appearance for his new club.
With the trio all still 21 and under, it is yet to be seen how big of a loss they are for United and if any replicate the heights of Paul Pogba‘s first departure from United and subsequent infamous return.
As of yet, Ramazani looks the most likely and there are even talks of a possible return to the Premier League for the 21 year old.
With reported interest from Everton, Ramazani has played down talks of any imminent move saying to Diario de Almeria “I am happy here. I want to continue working. We’ll see what happens, I’m only focused on Almeria. I don’t know anything about the (transfer) market or my future.”
