United Academy Continues To Lead The Way

Manchester United's famous Academy continues to lead the way among English clubs, with a new report showing that our youth set-up made the single biggest contribution to Premier League football in 2016/17.

According to a study carried out by the Press Association, players who came through the ranks at Old Trafford mustered more than twice as many minutes in last year's top flight than representatives from any other side.
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For the Reds' Head of Academy, Nicky Butt, it's another indicator that the club is continuing to move in the right direction, with as many as 10 graduates appearing for the first team last term.

“It’s a great sign that we’re doing things the right way," he said, in an interview with ManUtd.com on Friday. "It’s a massive pat on the back to the people who have been here and doing the hard work over the course of the last 15 or 20 years. Now, we’ve got to keep doing it. We have to keep the same regime and move on.
 
"It’s important to develop ourselves and we always have to step forward. Sir Alex [Ferguson] was the best at that, he never stood still or got into a comfort zone. You keep those morals, but you also keep adding things and keep putting your mind towards improving."

Despite the Academy's well-documented successes, Butt says he and his staff won't get carried away, and is confident that current methods will continue to bear fruit in the coming years.

“There are no targets," he added. "We just want to work hard and get some of the older ones as close to the first team as possible. For the younger ones, it’s about stepping stones, getting them from A to B and not going too far, too soon. 

"There’s no rush; some of them are still babies really - 14, 15 or 16 years old. They’re doing well, they’re on the pathway, but there’s a long way to go and that’s the most important thing. There’s a science to it, there’s a way to do it, and we believe we’re the best at it. With that report coming out earlier this week, it backs that up, and it’s great."

United's line-up for the penultimate Premier League game of the 2016/17 campaign, against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, was the club's youngest-ever in the top-flight, with an average age of 22 years and 284 days.

Jose Mourinho handed four players their maiden first-team starts, while Angel Gomes came off the bench to become our youngest-ever Premier League player.

“It does give the players confidence to see players given chances in the first team," Butt explained. "We all like the superstars: the Pogbas, the Zlatans, the Lukakus – we love the players that come into the club. 

"We’ve seen them over the years: Cantona, Veron, Ferdinand, Keane, all record-breaking transfers. Rooney is another. We love all of these players that help up become champions and the best in the world, but we also need players coming through our system as well."