But it might be who we are becoming.

Jesse Lingard, Andreas Pereira, Angel Gomez, Anthony Elanga, Alvaro Fernandez, Scott McTominay, Alejandro Garnacho (soon) and potentially Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford.

No doubt there's been more that I've missed but these are just from the top of my head.

Admittedly not all of these deserved to stay and some of them did have their chance but why is it that we've sold so many of our own over the past few years?

I'm not saying that we need to keep academy players but we should at least move them on knowing that we gave them a chance to do everything they can to reach their full potential or they've achieved everything possible and there's no more to be done.

That has happened to NONE of those players mentioned above.

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This whole Garnacho thing made me think about this and whether you agree with him (or any of the others) leaving or not, you cannot deny that this really isn't Man Utd. We are supposed to be making these players into world beaters or at least doing everything we can to do so.

None of them reached their potential and as we've seen with the likes of Elanga, Gomez and McTominay, put them in the right environment surrounded by the right people and they show us their qualities. Scotty won the Serie A MVP in his debut season in Italy.

How does this happen?

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We've also seen that it's not only academy players/youngsters that seem to do well elsewhere as Antony was flying at Real Betis during his 6-month stint in Spain.

I've spoken about the culture issue on many occasions and I believe this post covers it pretty well.

That poor culture remains and why we're in the position we're in where we're having to sell youngsters or potentially our best players when looking at the possible sale of Bruno Fernandes.

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But what makes a youngster flourish, or not?

I believe there are many factors to consider:

• Club culture/environment
• Nurturing and development
• Experience and guidance around them
• Using them in the best ways/tactical fit
• First team opportunities

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Club culture/environment

As I said, I spoke about the culture already but as it still hasn't been rectified in any way since, it will continue to have a negative effect on everyone at the club, youngsters probably more than most.

The mentality is weak, the quality of players isn't good enough, the club seem to move too slowly in it's decision-making, they sack good people regularly and they can say the right things but without actually doing what's needed to rectify past mistakes.

These are all factors that maintain that negativity. To see staff being removed for no reason doesn't create a great environment for anyone. It can make it seem as if we are inhumane and without feeling for those losing their jobs.

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The lack of care from the owners in everything at United is the biggest issue we have. Considering they have the power to change it all and choose to do nothing, what kind of tone does that set?

Old Trafford is the prefect example of just how little the Glazers care about the club.

To let it rust, decay and become the highest waterfall in England (or something), is not how you want people to think about your home ground. This has led to the co-owners making the decision to build a new stadium.

Imagine Man Utd not playing at Old Trafford.

That's what's going to happen.

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The environment that the board and owners have created over a long period is one that indicates a lot of the players who come through don't have the right mentality to be at United.

Hugging and high-fiving oppositions after defeats isn't something that we want to see when we lose especially to our rivals.

The players as we saw in that Europa League final may not even show up in games. How is that allowed?

All of this don't help to create the best environment for youngsters to grow and develop.

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Nurturing and development

Which brings me to nurturing.

We don't nurture our players anymore. I feel like what we've done over the years is just thrown them in wherever because we needed them rather than slowly integrate them into the first team.

I believe what United have done is put too much pressure onto them too soon in that we became reliant on a lot of these youngsters over the years because the senior players weren't producing.

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Looking at someone like Rashford, when he broke into the first team, it was more out of desperation due to injuries and those ahead of him not performing as well as they should've been.

He was superb on all his debuts and continued to be so for a few years. Rashford was so young when he made his debut that he was still in school!

And because of how good he became and so early on in his career, he quickly became the poster boy and a player we depended on so much. I do believe the player himself allowed for things off the field to not go as well as it should've but given the fact that United had blown him up to superstar proportions so soon, perhaps that fame got to him a little.

This can go back to the club not not instilling the right mentality and discipline into the players resulting in them being a little out of control.

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There is no development as well as it almost seems as if you're on your own. The players that came through the academy hardly displayed any signs of improvement or at least not as consistently as we'd like.

Garnacho is one such player as he can be very hit and miss despite his undoubted potential. I see pretty much the same player from when he made his debut in 22/23.

Part of the reason I believe as to why there is this lack of development is because as there is so much wrong with the club and so much to sort out, there may not spend as much time developing these youngsters as they should, which of course, isn't right.

You look at the past and the likes of the class of 92. They were developed and nurtured properly and weren't thrown into the lion's den and expected to be world beaters right away.

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Experience and guidance around them

And this is where guidance comes in.

We don't have enough experienced winners and strong mentality players around these youngsters, or in general.

Following Jonny Evans' departure, the only player that ticks the expereince, winner, strong mentality boxes is Casemiro. You could throw De Ligt and Mazraoui in there too but it really is slim pickings. For all his experience and mentality, Bruno isn't a winner. Maguire is the same.

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This is part of the reason why we can't understand the club looking to sign young players. United is calling out for experience.

To not have those older players who can act as a mentor could seriously halt the progress of a player or not help them stay on the right path.

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Hojlund has been Man Utd's striker for the past two seasons. He is only 22 years old. To think that he has had to lead the line of a club our size when he only just broke onto the scene is much too much pressure. This is also a team that hardly creates chances for it's centre-forward as it's failed to do for many years prior to his arrival.

I do acknowledge that Hojlund has been poor despite all of this but you have to admit that we didn't make it easy for him. He's also lacked that mentor that I was talking about as until Zirkzee's arrival, the Dane was the only 'senior' striker available. And Zirkzee isn't even a pure no 9.

The next in line is academy product Chido Obi.

You see what I'm getting at?

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These guys look on the field in tough moments whether individually or as a team and find no one who can help get out of this difficult situation.

There really is a lack of leaders.

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Using them in the best ways/tactical fit

I also believe we haven't used a lot of these yiungsters in the best ways so as to get the best out of them and help the team.

Along with little development, we don't actually know where certain players' best positions are. Mainoo is one player as even Amorim looks like he doesn't know.

Is he a no 8? Is he a no 6? Is he a no 10? ST perhaps?

This sort of thing also causes players' development to stunt.

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McTominay is another player whom we didn't use properly in my opinion.

Admittedly, I was never the biggest fan of the Scotsman as I didn't believe he was good enough to take us to the level we wanted to be. He had his strengths but ultimately, to get us to title status, McTominay was not the guy.

Looking at him in Italy though, and he is the guy. Scotty won the Scudetto but also MVP in his debut campaign in Serie A. He scored 13 goals and had 4 assists en route to lifting the title. His best goal return whilst at United was 10 goals which came in what turned out to be his final season at the club (23/24).

I think we all believed that the former United man was better served further forward. In and around the box and in the air, Scotty was deadly. The amount of top goals he scored or important ones are plenty.

However, United used him more as a no 8 which didn't get the best of him and caused our midfield to be somewhat non-existent. This actually resulted in his game going backwards yet whenever thrust forward, McTominay turned into a different player.

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Not knowing nor identifying their best positions is a crime from the club.

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First team opportunities

A lot of these players have also had limited game time in the first team. I'm not saying that they need to be regulars but they do need to appear more on the pitch.

Other than Garnacho, no other academy product has had much game time. While the likes of Mainoo and Collyer have had their injury problems, I would've expected a bit more playing time for them. Amorim has been cautious in bringing players back from injuries but to use Mainoo as sparingly as he's done in the last few months is never really going to allow us to see whether Mainoo is good enough or not. It also doesn't help in his development and finding his best position.

Youngsters are of course, a risk and as we're in quite the predicament as a team and club, we cannot afford to be taking too many risks. This again goes back to why do we look to sign youngsters.

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Dorgu is an example of how inconsistent young players can be which causes the fan base to be very impatient with them. The 20 year old Dane has had a lot of criticism in his 6 months at Old Trafford. A lot of it was unfair.

This is why we cannot keep signing young players as starters. The inconsistencies will be there and the patience will run out.

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Not kept in line

With this current culture at the club, there is a lot of il-discipline. We know there has been player power (and perhaps still is, to some extent) where the players controlled the dressing room rather than the manager.

Whenever they've done things out of line, they've rarely been punished.

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Before an all-important encounter with RB Leipzig in United's 20/21 Champions League campaign, Paul Pogba's agent came out with some strong words regarding his client's future at the club and what he thought about United.

Mino Raiola said:

“Paul is unhappy at Manchester United. He is unable to express himself as is expected from him. He needs a change of club; a change of scenery.”

How can a player's agent come out and say someting like this regardless of whether it was before a crucial CL game or not?

Naught was done and everything continued like nothing happened.

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There was even that time when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appeared apologetic to Rashford after a comment the then manager made. The Norwegian had suggested that MR10 "prioritise his football" instead of worrying about his off-field charity work. This resulted in Rashford's entourage being unhappy. Solksjaer then addressed his comment and said that "You made a headline out of one little comment that I never intended to be the focus of my comment.”

While it may not be an apology per se, the fact that the manager had to come out and clarify his comments at all showed how concerned he was about what he said. This was also how that press conference started.

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We've then seen the countless immature activities by Garnacho. Liking tweets that were critical of the manager and then unliking them; liking Ronaldo's comments that were critical of Erik ten Hag; and of course, his comments post the Europa League final in which he called the season "shit" and was questioning why he didn't start the final despite starting every other game.

We know what Amorim told him after that.

This is excluding his younger brother Roberto Garnacho who can be equally immature and il-disciplined when on social media.

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For the club to allow players to feel that they are able to do such things in the public is a reflection of how we don't have our house in order. People feel they can do what they want and get away with it.

How can you expect things to be smooth sailing when you permit such things and they go relatively unpunished?

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Simply not good enough

Some of those players I mentioned earlier and some from the current academy side, just won't be good enough. Not all youngsters are going to be the next Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes.

Sometimes we have to move them on for that reason alone. This could bring in some funds that we know are desperately needed at the moment.

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Financial incentives

This one doesn't necessarily concern all the other factors above in terms of what makes a youngster flourish but more why we move them on.

They bring in money is the blunt reason. Whether it's a little or a lot, as these players weren't bought and are homegrown, whatever money the club get for them is pure profit.

Given our difficult financial situation, getting whatever money we can in whatever way we can makes a difference as it helps to buy new players and balance the books.

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Final Thoughts

There are as you can see, quite a few reasons as to why young players have been failing at United for a long time. A lot of it doesn't actually have to do with them as they just have the unfortunate timing of being born too late.

It would seem like we're not in a position to be developing youngsters as much as we would like because we have so many problems that need solving.

This still doesn't sit right with me because the youth is what we're all about. To not even be giving them a proper chance and not truly developing them is not what Man Utd is all about.

I've always liked the fact that we create top players from the academy and that we use them in our first team. I prefer that than spending on the best.

It's good to make the best.

We don't do that anymore.

And it's really disappointing.

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Scott McTominay: Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images via Football Italia

Alejandro Garnacho: Creator: PAUL ELLIS | Credit: AFP via Getty Images Copyright: AFP or licensors via Man Utd News

Marcus Rashford: Creator: Shaun Botterill | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2024 Getty Images via Goal