Man Utd Leads U21s Table, But Seven Loan Failures Raise Questions About Academy Strength – Did Amorim Have a Point?

UNDER-21 football is effectively limbo land in the English game.

The daft scheduling, which deters fans from attending games or tuning in, is an ongoing issue, while the near-entire absence of first-teamers doesn’t help.

United’s second string play at LeighCredit: Getty United have been playing at Leigh since 2014Credit: Getty

are into the 12th year playing their home games at Leigh Sports Village.

Leigh is the biggest town in Britain without a train station and the Manchester tram link does not extend anywhere near that far.

It is an unedifying look for United to continue to rent out a rugby league ground.

When United became Leigh’s tenants in 2014, Manchester City opened the state-of-the-art City Football Academy a goal kick away from the Etihad.

’s presence at Under-21 and FA Youth Cup games last week has given the United academy ample exposure.

The Old Trafford directors’ box for the Friday night Youth Cup tie against Derby County was packed with familiar faces: Carrick, , Darron Gibson, Jonathan Woodgate, Jonny Evans and Jason Wilcox.

Carrick has a vested interest. His son, Jacey, is in the United academy. His attendance would have improved his sky-high approval ratings.

It is genuine, too. Carrick worked with , James Garner, Angel Gomes and Mason Greenwood before they became known outside of United’s Carrington training complex.

In the International Cup tie at Leigh last week, the only starters to have already made their first-team debuts were Tyler Fredricson and Jack Fletcher.

Ruben Amorim, never visible at academy games outside of Carrington, was responsible for six debutants from United’s youth system.

Now that Amorim is gone, some are hell-bent on depicting him as the enemy of the United academy.

It was Sir Jim Ratcliffe who claimed the academy had “really slipped”. Sources at the club insist that was a reference to its facilities – about to be upgraded – but it is not an outlandish quote.

Ratcliffe was critical of the academyCredit: Shutterstock Editorial

United have won the Youth Cup only three times this century and Mainoo is the sole graduate in the senior squad, unless you count 39-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Tom Heaton.

Post-Ferguson, Mainoo, Greenwood, Adnan Januzaj, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho are the only genuinely unignorable talents who played their way into the first team.

Amorim maintained the extraordinary sequence that dates back to October 1937 of United picking an academy player in successive matchday squads.

It was only extended through necessity. Fletcher was a token pick for the 2-2 draw at Tottenham in November with Mainoo absent through injury.

The notion that Amorim was anti-academy and Carrick is pro suits the agenda of some of Carrick’s former team-mates but it does not stack up.

Of the six who got a look-in under Amorim, Shea Lacey passed muster before his petulant red card against Brighton in the FA Cup earlier this month.

Harry Amass enjoyed an accomplished full debut against Wolves on Easter Sunday and his form on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship suggests he cannot be discounted from making it back at United.

Amorim clumsily claimed Amass was “struggling”. He meant that he was playing for a struggling side, with Wednesday certain to be relegated. Amass switched to Norwich City last week.

Chido Obi, chided by Amorim for not always starting for the U21s, dropped back down to the U18s in the Youth Cup last week.

Fletcher made his debut last monthCredit: Shutterstock Editorial Obi made his debut under Amorim in FebruaryCredit: Getty

Travis Binnion, the U21s coach now assisting Carrick, regularly despaired at Obi’s questionable work rate off the ball this season.

Obi’s form will have to improve immeasurably if he is to add to his eight first-team appearances.

Fredricson has had one forgettable cameo since his first-half horror show in the debacle at Grimsby in August.

Bendito Mantato was clearly not ready to patrol the wing against Wolves last month and Fletcher was too slight in his three substitute appearances.

United U21s are top of the Premier League 2 table – but second-string football can become a dead zone for youngsters. Lacey, Fletcher and Mantato are all 18.

Seven United U21 members have returned to United this month after unfulfilling loans away from the club.

Goalkeeper Elyh Harrison was dropped by League Two strugglers Shrewsbury in September and did not play again until the 6-1 FA Cup shellacking by Wolves this month.

Ethan Wheatley started 20 games for Northampton but mustered only two goals. Joe Hugill went four months without getting a kick at Barnet and Sonny Aljofree did not play again for Notts County after September.

Habeeb Ogunneye was initially an ever-present for Newport County until they sacked David Hughes as manager in November. Hughes worked with Ogunneye in the United academy.

Shea Lacey has made progress at U21 level this seasonCredit: Getty Harrison has returned from ShrewsburyCredit: Getty

Toby Collyer started three games for West Brom before injury cut short his season-long loan. Louis Jackson got two starts for non-league Solihull Moors and the second was on September 2.

Amass and Radek Vitek, one of the outstanding keepers in the Championship at Bristol City this season, have cut the mustard.

A few will be perked up by the return of Adam Lawrence if they fail to secure new loans. Lawrence coached Harrison, Ogunneye, Jackson, Wheatley, Amass, Fletcher and Lacey.

Ogunneye, Jackson and Wheatley were on the United bench for the 2024 FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City. The majority of such academy matchday promotions in recent years have been enforced.

The United academy’s reputation has been upheld by Mainoo and, before he engineered his exit, Garnacho. Scott McTominay is another success story and so is Rashford.

Part of the attraction of hiring Erik ten Hag and then Amorim was they came from clubs famed for their youth systems.

Ten Hag started Mainoo, Garnacho, McTominay and Rashford in the 2024 FA Cup final. He hot-housed Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Ryan Gravenberch and Jurrien Timber at Ajax. Yet Ten Hag only granted one more academy debut than Amorim at United.

Amorim undeniably underused Mainoo amid his refusal to stray from the 3-4-2-1 system he was wedded to. Carrick operated at a similar pace to Mainoo during his midfield days and has revived the 20-year-old’s United career.

Wheatley became United’s 250th academy graduate in April 2024Credit: PA Michael Carrick watched the United youth team on FridayCredit: Alamy

But jettisoning Garnacho and Rashford were for the betterment of the squad. Ten Hag did not want to sell McTominay, a sale all but enforced by the profitability and sustainability rules.

Amorim also had a point about the “entitlement” of United’s youngsters: “Sometimes strong words is not bad words. Sometimes difficult moments is not a bad thing for the kids.

“We don’t need to be always with accolades in everything, in every situation.”

David Beckham, one of United’s greatest graduates, had played six games and scored once when he was loaned to Preston North End in 1995.

Beckham admitted he was worried but scored two goals in five appearances. A year later, he was a United double winner and starting in the FA Cup final. No sign of entitlement there.

United scraped past Peterborough United in the third round of the Youth Cup last month and needed extra time to see off Derby 2-1.

Realistically, only an injury crisis is going to lead Carrick to pick any of the teenagers he watched at Leigh and Old Trafford last week.

He even named Tyrell Malacia, the unsellable ‘bomb squad’ member who is out of contract in five months, on the bench at Arsenal on Sunday.

Malacia, another in limbo, has turned out twice for the U21s. It is unlikely many tuned in.

David Beckham was on loan at Preston when he was 19