What new players have come into the Man Utd academy

In the last decade, Manchester United’s academy has fallen short of its former glories.

Once recognised as the state of the art, THE place to develop, has now been left behind by clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea.

The lure and appeal of simply the idea of playing for United’s academy, has faded.

But like Oasis, its coming back.

United’s academy is being revived.

The state of the academy

In 2024, it hasn’t had a world class success story since Paul Pogba in 2011, and we all know how that turned out.

Marcus Rashford has been an excellent product of it but not world class.

With the club built on the foundations of the Busby Babes and the Class of 92, a diminishing academy is the opposite of everything it’s stood for.

But for over a decade, even the club wouldn’t argue that the academy was struggling.

The generation of talents like, James Wilson, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Timothy Fosu-Mensa, have all failed to make it consistently in the first team.

Change was needed.

In 2019, John Murtough (United’s former football director) hired Nick Cox to be the head of academy.

This came in a major re-structuring, which saw several new arrivals in key positions, to try revamp it.

Youngsters like Hannibal Mejbri, Alvaro Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho were brought in from abroad.

In 2022, United won the FA Youth Cup for a record 11th time.

Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo starred throughout. This was a step in the right direction for the academy, having not won it since 2011, with the famous team of Pogba, Ravel Morrison and Jesse Lingard.

A year later, United further restructured the academy, ‘to bring international youth scouting closer to the first team set-up’, so they could be faster and more decisive when assessing players.

This came as a result of missing out on top talents due to a failure to act and poor communication when considering players.

What players have United missed out on?

In the space of just a few years, United have lost out on several world class talents.

Cole Palmer grew up in Wythenshawe as a fan of the Red Devils but somehow City’s scouting department picked him up before United and now he’s one of the best players in the world.

Similarly, City beat United to Jadon Sancho, so the club ended up paying £73m years later.

According to The Athletic, these are some other players United could’ve signed.

Moises Caicedo was one the 20x Premier League champions missed out on. He was available for just $4m, but the complexity of the deal involving multiple agents meant United walked away. A few years later and he cost £115m.

Pedro Neto another, with United able to pick him up at 17-years-old for just a training compensation but the club stalled, and he signed a new contract at Braga.

Would you believe United were offered a 15-year-old Jamal Musiala on trial, but due to complications with the deal, United backed off.

Then Benjamin Sesko, United offered £1.2m for the Slovenian but were unwilling to meet the £2m RB Salzburg offered, so missed out on him as well.

Finally, United could’ve signed Hannibal in 2020 for free but didn’t act despite him impressing after being invited to Carrington (training ground) for trials. He went to Monaco and United paid £9m the following year for him instead.

So many top talents the club could’ve signed but indecisiveness and a lack of urgency in decision making, squandered that.

The rise of the academy

A few years have passed since the restructuring of the academy and the club are beginning to reap the rewards of this.

We’ve already seen the emergence of Garnacho and Mainoo, and there’s a lot more to come.

They’ve brought in Darren Fletcher’s twin sons Jack and Tyler from City, while acquiring Harry Amass from Watford. This on top of Shea Lacey, a hugely regarded 17-year-old, that’s already at the club. These are just some of the huge talents in the academy, but there’s a lot more.

Even before the arrival of INEOS, the club was heading in the right direction, beginning to prioritise the academy again. But the new plan brought in by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team, has only accelerated this.

The impact of INEOS’ arrival

Since becoming co-owners of the club, Ratcliffe and INEOS have illustrated the importance of the academy and finding the next ‘Mbappe’ rather than buying him now.

Subsequently, the club has brought in top talents from various clubs in a bid to do just this.

Who has come into the United academy

Chido Obi-Martin

The 16-year-old striker broke Arsenal’s U18 goal scoring record last season, netting 32 goals in just 18 games. He is viewed as a world class talent. United snatched him from Arsenals hands, offering him a better project and pathway into the first team. This was enough to convince him.

Samuel Lusale

Another 16-year-old forward. Lusale was snapped up ahead of various rivals like Arsenal and Chelsea.

Sekou Kone

This is arguably the most encouraging signing of them all. Its one thing acquiring a talent from the Premier League, but it’s another thing from Africa. Kone had a fantastic U17’s World Cup for Mali and United have swooped him up as a result. This is the sort of signing United would’ve missed out on before due to their indecisiveness. They’ve shown trust in their scouts and have acquired a top defensive midfield talent.

With the previous restructuring, on top of INEOS’ direct approach, United’s academy is getting the attention and investment it needs. Like Garnacho and Mainoo, we’ll be seeing a lot of first team breakthroughs in the coming years. The prestige of the famous Manchester United academy is returning.

The future of the club is scary.

Watch out!