By TARA ANSON-WALSH, FOOTBALL REPORTER
Published: 04:58 EST, 8 November 2025 | Updated: 05:01 EST, 8 November 2025
Darren Fletcher's son Jack has travelled to London for Manchester United's clash with Tottenham on Saturday afternoon.
The 18-year-old is yet to make his first-team debut for United, but featured on the bench on several occasions last season and comes in for Kobbie Mainoo, who is absent through injury.
For the past four games, Mainoo has been the only academy graduate in Amorim's squad, with 39-year-old Tom Heaton having slipped down the pecking order since the arrival of Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens.
Fletcher's inclusion in the matchday squad preserves an 88-year record for the club, ensuring that there has been an academy player involved in each of the last 4,332 successive games. The sequence began on 30 October 1937, when Tom Manley and Jack Wassall featured in an away match at Fulham.
An England youth international, Jack's father is Darren, the former United academy graduate who won six league titles and a European Cup among nine major honours, and is now the club's under-18s head coach.
Fletcher, a skilful left-footed midfielder, signed from Manchester City in July 2023 alongside his twin brother Tyler for a combined fee of £1.25 million.
Darren Fletcher's son Jack has travelled to London for Man United's clash with Tottenham
An England youth international, Jack's father is Darren, the former United academy graduate who won six league titles among nine major honours and is the current under-18s head coach
His selection appears to be a deliberate decision from United, with manager Ruben Amorim previously expressing his desire to maintain the club's tradition.
'We want to maintain that, I don’t want to be the guy to break that record, or that idea,' Amorim said in September.
'If you see the past of Manchester United, it’s built on kids who grow up here for a long time. I think that should be our goal in the future, so I should try to maintain that, that is for sure.'
United define a homegrown player as one who joined the club before the age of 21, played at a junior level below the first team, and has not represented another side at senior level.