Frederic Veseli: Good Signing For Manchester United Brian Bahr/Getty Images
Frederic Veseli was poached by Manchester United from Manchester City on transfer deadline day as Sir Alex Ferguson looks to safeguard the Red Devils' defence for the next decade.
Veseli, a 19-year-old Swiss centre-back, could turn out to be a very astute purchase from United—especially considering he was signed on a free transfer.
The defender was signed by City back in 2008 from FC Lausanne-Sport, a team famous in Switzerland for producing great players for the national team.
And Veseli is showing very good signs of being another national team hero, having come through his country's ranks from U15 level.
He currently has four caps for the Switzerland U20 team—with whom he is a key player—and overall has won 51 caps in the various junior sides.
Such experience shows almost every time Veseli takes to the field, with his performances often appearing very assured and reliable.
He isn't the best defender in terms of his technical ability, but Veseli is a player who looks like he will adapt well to Premier League football.
Firstly, he's great at clearing the danger—something the Manchester United first-team players struggle with at times, especially when they lapse in concentration or get too cocky playing their way out of trouble.
Secondly, Veseli reads the play quite well and can sense the right time to intercept or cut across.
Frederic Veseli: Good Signing For Manchester United?
It's probably the characteristic he'll develop best in his career, and he's already very good at it having garnered a lot of experience in the youth ranks.
Thirdly, the young centre-back, for his age and position, has great vision for a long pass, and whilst he needs to work on his accuracy, he's able to pick out good options in the opposition's half and final third.
That's most likely the reason why many in the game see Veseli as one day taking up a central midfield role, like Paul Scholes in his later days, but with a much better tackle.
And finally, Veseli's other main plus point is that tackling ability—the Swiss U20 international is another youngster who has great intimidation factor with his strong, robust tackling approach.
He has a decent tackle accuracy rate for his age and it's clear to see that approach can put off opposition forwards.
However, he needs to work on his accuracy before he's ready for the first team. Otherwise, he could end up like Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny during his first season in the Premier League.
Veseli is also a rather decisive player, which can be good, but he needs to work on his communication a bit more to avoid defensive mix-ups.
He also has a Nemanja Vidic or Christopher Samba-esque ability in aerial duels with his domineering approach to challenges in the air, but needs to bulk up before he gets as good as those guys.
Video of Frederic Veseli in Action
Overall, Veseli is a promising talent and a very good signing for United—it's clear to see why United wanted him, but it's also evident why City weren't fighting desperately to keep hold of him.
He's not ready for the first team yet and needs to work on his pace, strength, acceleration, tackling and short passing before he can grace the Old Trafford pitch.
However, if he has the rest of the season developing at United, playing for the reserves and learning from the first-team players at Carrington, then spends the 2012/13 season out on loan gaining experience in the Championship and/or Premier League, as well as in the League Cup, by the following campaign he should be challenging the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling for a place in the starting lineup.
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