The perennial source of hope and pride at United has always been its academy. Ruben Amorim has been understandably cautious to promote untested youngsters of late given the red-hot toxicity around Old Trafford in recent weeks, but there is a shifting sense that United’s thriving youth ranks could give them a significant boost this season.
United’s academy sides are flourishing at the moment. So with Jim Ratcliffe tightening the club’s purse strings, restricting United to one major January signing — Patrick Dorgu for £25.1m from Lecce — and Amorim’s options threadbare, perhaps the time will soon be right for the next wave of Carrington fledglings to break through.
The under 21s have triumphed in their past eight consecutive games against domestic opposition. They are used to winning. The bulk of that side claimed three youth trophies in the under-18s last term, while the current under 18s thrashed Chelsea 5-1 on Wednesday to reach the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals. First there was the Busby Babes, then Fergie’s Fledglings; how about Amorim’s Academy?
“We have to improve the academy and we have to bring more players through,” said Amorim a fortnight ago. And he is willing to include young players at the right time, naming the 17-year-old Godwill Kukonki on the bench for recent games against Arsenal, Southampton and Newcastle. A left-footed central defender who can also play at left-back, Kukonki took part in Amorim’s maiden training session in November and made a significant impression on the manager, remaining with the first team squad since.
Kukonki’s ascension could be delayed, however, now United have signed Ayden Heaven, another left-sided defender, from Arsenal. Despite Heaven having made just one senior appearance for the Gunners, United’s technical director, Jason Wilcox — Manchester City’s former academy director — revealed the 18-year-old would go straight into the senior squad. With Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw both injured, he could soon be primed for game-time in one of United’s problem positions.
Ayden Heaven of Manchester United in action during a first team training session at Carrington Training Ground on February 10, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Amorim has headaches all over the pitch, but another principal problem is United’s inability to score goals, with strikers Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund netting just once between them since Christmas. While there is an obvious chasm between the Premier League and youth football, United’s academy forwards do not struggle to score goals. Chido Obi, another youngster the club nabbed from Arsenal in the summer, scored a hat-trick in that win over Chelsea and his star is rising fast.
The 17-year-old Dane has trained with the first team and has been tipped for a professional debut before the season is out. Obi has strong competition when it comes to prodigious forwards in the United academy: Shea Lacey, Gabriele Biancheri and Amir Ibragimov are all raw talents who are tipped for big futures, but currently considered unready for the rigours of first-team action.
Another player who has been on the precipice of United’s first XI is Harry Amass, a dynamic left-back who nearly made his debut under Erik ten Hag before his progress was stalled as the club encouraged him to beef up and put on muscle. He’s not yet 18 and could yet get an opportunity, although the signing of Dorgu and the impending summer arrival of Diego Leon, a 17-year-old left-back from Paraguay, could hinder his upward trajectory.
There is a degree of tension whenever talk of the academy is raised around United nowadays. The prospect of clubs selling home-grown players for “pure profit” in PSR (profitability and sustainability rules) terms may appeal to Ratcliffe and the Ineos bean-counters, but is anathema to fans keen for United’s proud academy tradition to continue. Wilcox’s preference is for United to sign and promote young players with the aim of either blooding them in the first team or selling them to boost the coffers.
Suggestions last month the club could be willing to sell Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho prompted widespread anger from the fanbase. Both starred in the 2022 Youth Cup-winning side and are used internally at the club as examples for younger players to emulate.
There is certainly a new generation ready to follow Mainoo and Garnacho through at United. Whether they end up gracing the first team is another question.
“That is something that all of the clubs in England have to take advantage \[of\],” Amorim said. “The players that come from the academy to play, to feel the shirt or to sell. Our focus is to bring more.”
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