The Red Devils have an admirable record of producing young players through the Academy. The likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and even the current Head of Academy Nicky Butt.
"It's a hard job," admits Butt
Nowadays, homegrown players struggle to make it into the first team with the increasing amount of talent coming from overseas. However, the former United midfielder, who now heads up the academy, believes that the club is still one of the “best pathways” into football, for both English and foreign players.
“It is a hard job, especially in today’s society, with so many big clubs around the world with a lot of tick boxes,” Butt told MUTV. “Financially, with the training ground and everything that all the clubs can offer these boys now, it’s massive.
“We’re competing with a lot of clubs these days but I still believe we’ve got the best pathway. It’s a fact we’re probably the best or one of the best in Europe at developing our lads for the first team.
"We can speak to parents honestly and say, look, we always give our lads a chance to play for the club, the pathway to play is there if they’re good enough.”
United set players up for success elsewhere
The summer transfer window ended just a few days ago, a really busy one for several former United players. Two players with big moves were Michael Keane and Danny Drinkwater who both grew up together in the Manchester United academy. Keane went from Burnley to Everton for a fee of £30 million, and Danny Drinkwater completed a move to Chelsea, sending £35million Leicester’s way.
A majority of players brought through the youth system don’t make it into the first team at Old Trafford. Nevertheless, Butt believes that the club set players up for a very successful career with many going to play abroad or in the lower divisions of English football.
“We have X amount of players who play professionally across Europe, and make a good living by playing football. The percentage who get into the first team is very small, so we’ve got to offer something else and we offer a really good upbringing and football knowledge. If you look how many around the championship are from our academy, it’s great for the coaches.”