United starlet Kobbie Mainoo.
Kobbie Mainoo is the latest star from Manchester United's famed Academy. (Image: Manchester United via Getty Imag)
At the start of 2024, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford went out their way to underline how important the famed Manchester United Academy will be in their project.
After completing their 25 per cent takeover of the football club at the end of 2023, Ratcliffe and Brailsford visited Carrington to announce their plans for the next generation, leaving Academy coach Nick Cox excited about what's to come.
"We have spent time with Dave and Jim. They both presented to the Academy staff this week and we have had a lot of informal conversations as well," he told The Manchester Evening News in February.
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He went on: "Naturally, they have a really good understanding of the history of youth development here and the role it has played in our history - and the role it is playing today in terms of helping our team perform. So from our perception, from the Academy staff's perception, exciting times ahead.
"I think the staff were incredibly enthused and appreciated the fact they'd dedicated some time, which is a really busy time for them, because there are a lot of new people to meet and new information for them, but they came and spent considerable time with every person in the room.
"And that same approach has been taken across different functions in the club and that will do, I imagine, in the coming weeks."
At least one United Academy graduate has been selected in more than 4,000 successive matches dating back to October 1937 - a truly incredible record. This season has seen Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Ethan Wheatley, Tom Heaton, Toby Collyer, Harry Amass, Jack Fletcher, the now-departed Scott McTominay, Jayce Fitzgerald, Habeeb Ogunneye and Godwill Kukonki all be named in a first-team squad.
Rashford has made 425 appearances for United since his debut in 2016, while Garnacho and Mainoo are two key members in Ruben Amorim's squad having contributed to the club's first FA Youth Cup victory in 11 years in 2022.
The excitement around Amas and Wheatley has left supporters purring at what's to come in the future. In recent years, further players including McTominay, Angel Gomes, Anthony Elanga, Andreas Pereira, Dean Henderson and Mason Greenwood have all moved on and continued progressing their career.
Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay all progressed through the Academy.
Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay all progressed through the Academy. (Image: Getty Images)
However, amid controversy over the short-lived tenure of sporting director Dan Ashworth, and cost-cutting at United by Ineos, Ratcliffe is reportedly considering undoing the good work done in the Academy at Old Trafford.
Recent reports have suggested the British billionaire wants more ruthlessness in the Academy, in the right way. It's said that if players are deemed not good enough to make it in the first-team they will be sold, with the club having a buy-back and sell-on clause.
Of course, not every player who graduates the Academy and makes it into the professional game will become a world beater. But United have raised over £100million through sales of Academy players since 2022 and possess well over £127.7million in market value in players like Rashford, Mainoo and Garnacho, according to Transfermarkt.
And if Ratcliffe needed convincing to ensure trust is kept in the Academy, Amorim is a manager who has a track-record of promoting young players. Upon his arrival at the club, the Portuguese said: "Nowadays, you need young guys, guys from the Academy for everything.
"To bring that history of the club because they feel the club in a different way. And also because you have all these rules with Financial Fair Play, when a player from our Academy is so much different to the players that we bought and then we sell.
"So, everything is connected. I will try to help all the players, especially the young ones."