{"id":640342,"date":"2025-12-18T14:03:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/640342\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:03:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:03:18","slug":"phil-jones-says-man-utd-let-an-incredible-young-player-go-who-never-gave-the-ball-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/640342\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Jones says Man Utd let an &#8216;incredible&#8217; young player go who never gave the ball away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Phil Jones saw plenty of talented players come and go during his 12 years at Manchester United.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Back in 2023, Manchester United confirmed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/manchester-united-officially-confirm-phil-jones-will-leave-the-club\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Phil Jones was released<\/a> following the expiration of his contract.<\/p>\n<p>Since leaving, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/phil-jones-is-now-ready-for-his-new-chapter-after-man-utd-he-could-even-follow-jason-wilcox\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jones has graduated in Sport Directorship<\/a> and could re-enter the footballing industry in a behind-the-scenes role.<\/p>\n<p>          Who Is The BIGGEST Missed Man Utd Transfer Target Since The 2000s? \u270d\ufe0f\ud83d\ude2d <\/p>\n<p class=\"grv-talking-point__subtitle\">It is time to settle this debate once and for all\u2026 \ud83c\udf7f<\/p>\n<p> \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old also speaks often about United\u2019s progress and his years at Old Trafford, including the incredible players he shared the pitch with.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2251375887-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Alvaro Carreras playing for Real Madrid\" class=\"wp-image-316168\" \/>Photo by Florencia Tan Jun\/Getty ImagesPhil Jones raves about Alvaro Carreras at Man United<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ohXNwcMeQ4I\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Sports Illustrated<\/a>, Jones was asked about playing with Alvaro Carreras, who came up through United\u2019s academy and now finds himself at Real Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you work with Carreras at United?\u201d Jones was asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, Incredible. Incredible player. Incredible player,\u201d Jones replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t think he\u2019d get to that level. Don\u2019t forget he went out on loan to Preston and wasn\u2019t playing that regularly at Preston. He was brilliant.<\/p>\n<p> Do you agree with Ineos\u2019 recruitment model of signing wonderkids? <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2235382169-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Jason Wilcox, Omar Berrada and Sir Jim Ratcliffe in stands.\" class=\"wp-image-297650\" \/>Photo by Michael Regan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Let us know your view on Ineos\u2019 youth recruitment in the comments below!<\/p>\n<p> \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the reason that people would look at him and go \u2018maybe not for us\u2019 is because he probably lacked pace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd as a left back, he\u2019s tall. He\u2019s got like sort of a really lanky way of running. But I thought he was brilliant. I thought technically he was brilliant. He kept the ball. He never gave the ball away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was one that surprised me why United let him go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alvaro Carreras is now a superstar at Real Madrid<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/star-that-ineos-sold-for-5m-is-now-labelled-a-phenomenon-by-spanish-press-one-of-the-best\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United sold Carreras for just \u00a35m<\/a> to Benfica in 2024. Just a year later, United earned more from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/transfer-news\/man-utds-expected-windfall-halved-as-real-madrid-agree-alvaro-fernandez-deal-true-number-clear\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carreras\u2019 sell-on fee<\/a> when he joined Real Madrid than they did from the initial sale.<\/p>\n<p>Carreras has become Xabi Alonso\u2019s first-choice left-back at Madrid, featuring in 16 consecutive La Liga matches for the Spanish giants.<\/p>\n<p>Reports suggest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/transfer-news\/manchester-united-believe-5m-talent-is-one-that-got-away-he-never-shouldve-been-sold\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United regret selling Carreras<\/a> and view him as the one who got away.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/spanish-press-react-to-duel-between-ex-man-utd-star-alvaro-carreras-and-mohamed-salah\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spanish press react to duel between ex-Man Utd star Alvaro Carreras and Mohamed Salah<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Considering United are now considering bringing in a new left wing-back in 2026, it makes his sale even more bitter.<\/p>\n<p>Carreras was never given a real opportunity to shine at United, and clearly Jones agrees that it was a major mistake.<\/p>\n<p>  Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phil Jones saw plenty of talented players come and go during his 12 years at Manchester United. Back&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[136099,65339,94,42135,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-640342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-alvaro-carreras","9":"tag-alvaro-fernandez","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-phil-jones","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115740949044155340","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}