Best academy player we've produced since the class of 1992?

Pogba
Pique
Brown
Fletcher
Evans
Rashford
Greenwood
Rossi

In that order
 
Son said:
I would probably pick Scholes of those 3. I believe Pogba is the most talented but Scholes could dictate almost any game he played in. Over a season that is a huge asset.
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Sounds like a nice party trick. I'd argue it's not just an asset but quite a remarkable talent that.
 
Currently Rashford, but Greenwood could end up being extra special.

Fletcher is a strange one. He’s remembered fondly, but I remember most of the time when he played people didn’t really rate him, there was that whole “ SAF secret son” joke. Then he suffered illness and when came back people appreciated his effort and supported him

Pogba was signed young, if we count him we’d have to count a whole bunch of others and he made his breakthrough at Juve
 
Have a hard time splitting Brown and Fletcher.

Brown was more talented and looked destined to be a world class defender. Injuries turned him into a squad rotation defender, but then Neville is out for over a year and he just steps up and serves us THAT 2007-08 season. Remarkable.

Fletcher's trajectory was very much the opposite. He spent years getting vilified for not being Beckham, then Keane, probably Butt too... He would have been the caf's favourite punching ball these days. Squad player if you ever saw one... except he had this knack for turning on beast mode for the big occasions. We (he) got robbed of that 2009 CL Final. A few months later it was him scoring a brace when Tevez turned up at OT in light blue.

Greenwood has been a more exciting prospect than any of them, but they've won stuff. Loads.
 
frutti di mare said:
Currently Rashford, but Greenwood could end up being extra special.

Fletcher is a strange one. He’s remembered fondly, but I remember most of the time when he played people didn’t really rate him, there was that whole “ SAF secret son” joke. Then he suffered illness and when came back people appreciated his effort and supported him

Pogba was signed young, if we count him we’d have to count a whole bunch of others and he made his breakthrough at Juve
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Regardless of where Pogba made his breakthrough...he is still a Manchester United youth player. As far as 'we'd have to count a whole bunch of others'....if they arrived before they were 18, played in our Academy and weren't professionals (which is the official criteria) then they ARE ALREADY counted and have been since 1932.

If you start changing criteria then you have to rewrite our history and plenty of youth players in the past would suddenly have to be omitted.

The only difference between modern youth players and historic youth players is that the modern player has mostly been playing football in the youth set ups of professional clubs rather than schools, boys clubs and non-league clubs in the past.

Where they come from may change over time...the fact that we provide coaching and development in a structured format from 15-18 is still the same.
 
Pogba's spent most of his career at United, he's every bit a United product as Rashford or Greenwood in my opinion.
 
antohan said:
Have a hard time splitting Brown and Fletcher.

Brown was more talented and looked destined to be a world class defender. Injuries turned him into a squad rotation defender, but then Neville is out for over a year and he just steps up and serves us THAT 2007-08 season. Remarkable.

Fletcher's trajectory was very much the opposite. He spent years getting vilified for not being Beckham, then Keane, probably Butt too... He would have been the caf's favourite punching ball these days. Squad player if you ever saw one... except he had this knack for turning on beast mode for the big occasions. We (he) got robbed of that 2009 CL Final. A few months later it was him scoring a brace when Tevez turned up at OT in light blue.

Greenwood has been a more exciting prospect than any of them, but they've won stuff. Loads.
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Was going to mention that in my post. He was like Fred/McTominay in how people hated to see him start. I’m actually trying to think if without tinted roses he was better than either two?

Fred could arguably play in the Liverpool, Chelsea, and perhaps in even City, midfield and fit into the system. Before people laugh, he’s one of the players benefiting most under Rangnick. McTominay I don’t know I think Fletcher was the better CM, but McTominay being originally a striker will have the better highlights so looks better. But either way imo neither were/are top quality CM’s who’d survive at other top clubs.
 
The highest level any of them reached was Fletcher, for me. I do think it was a very high level for a sadly rather short period.

I don't think Pique counts.
 
frutti di mare said:
Currently Rashford, but Greenwood could end up being extra special.

Fletcher is a strange one. He’s remembered fondly, but I remember most of the time when he played people didn’t really rate him, there was that whole “ SAF secret son” joke. Then he suffered illness and when came back people appreciated his effort and supported him

Pogba was signed young, if we count him we’d have to count a whole bunch of others and he made his breakthrough at Juve
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antohan said:
Have a hard time splitting Brown and Fletcher.

Brown was more talented and looked destined to be a world class defender. Injuries turned him into a squad rotation defender, but then Neville is out for over a year and he just steps up and serves us THAT 2007-08 season. Remarkable.

Fletcher's trajectory was very much the opposite. He spent years getting vilified for not being Beckham, then Keane, probably Butt too... He would have been the caf's favourite punching ball these days. Squad player if you ever saw one... except he had this knack for turning on beast mode for the big occasions. We (he) got robbed of that 2009 CL Final. A few months later it was him scoring a brace when Tevez turned up at OT in light blue.

Greenwood has been a more exciting prospect than any of them, but they've won stuff. Loads.
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frutti di mare said:
Was going to mention that in my post. He was like Fred/McTominay in how people hated to see him start. I’m actually trying to think if without tinted roses he was better than either two?

Fred could arguably play in the Liverpool, Chelsea, and perhaps in even City, midfield and fit into the system. Before people laugh, he’s one of the players benefiting most under Rangnick. McTominay I don’t know I think Fletcher was the better CM, but McTominay being originally a striker will have the better highlights so looks better. But either way imo neither were/are top quality CM’s who’d survive at other top clubs.
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Fletcher was a squad player for a long time but then stepped up to first-team quality - he was very good in 08/09 and genuinely one of the best CMs in the league the next season (pretty sure he made the PFA team of the year too). That's what made the illness so gut-wrenching, it came just as he was establishing himself as a key player for us.

I don't think there's any comparison with Fred and McTominay. Peak Fletcher didn't look out of place starting regularly in a team that won 2 titles in 3 seasons, lost the third one by a point, and reached a CL final. He was a level above both of them and walks into our current team, no questions asked.
 
King Azaz the Unabridged said:
Fletcher was a squad player for a long time but then stepped up to first-team quality - he was very good in 08/09 and genuinely one of the best CMs in the league the next season (pretty sure he made the PFA team of the year too). That's what made the illness so gut-wrenching, it came just as he was establishing himself as a key player for us.

I don't think there's any comparison with Fred and McTominay. Peak Fletcher didn't look out of place starting regularly in a team that won 2 titles in 3 seasons, lost the third one by a point, and reached a CL final. He was a level above both of them and walks into our current team, no questions asked.
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Agree. Where I said he was a squaddie if I ever saw one it was the early assessment. 2008-10 he was one of the first names on the teamsheet for any big match. It was done to death, but I still think that 2009 final could have been completely different.

Re McTominay. I'd say he is a good squad rotation player, just like we all thought Dazza was 15 years ago. That's where I was drawing a parallel, you never know, and that's why committed academy products as squaddies are better than discarding them and moving on to adding random foreigners to see if you hit the jackpot, which seems to be the way people think about someone like McTominay or Lingard (whom I'm now done with though).
 
Yup, McTominay definitely has a place in the team. He gets slammed for not being good enough to start for a title-challenger - he isn't, but it's also not his fault we're so reliant on him because we've literally signed three central midfielders in the last five years and none of them has fully worked out.

He'd have been a decent squad player in our peak sides under Sir Alex, too. Better footballer than Cleverley or Gibson, probably Anderson too.
 
King Azaz the Unabridged said:
Fletcher was a squad player for a long time but then stepped up to first-team quality - he was very good in 08/09 and genuinely one of the best CMs in the league the next season (pretty sure he made the PFA team of the year too). That's what made the illness so gut-wrenching, it came just as he was establishing himself as a key player for us.

I don't think there's any comparison with Fred and McTominay. Peak Fletcher didn't look out of place starting regularly in a team that won 2 titles in 3 seasons, lost the third one by a point, and reached a CL final. He was a level above both of them and walks into our current team, no questions asked.
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You could very well be right. I might just be remembering Fletcher through the bias of his earlier days, but that brings up a point that might one day apply to Fred and/or McTominay once players has a reputation for being “not good” even if it’s just due to young age, or other reasons like the team, system, bad tactics etc.. they have their work cut out changing that image. It’s almost like being typecasted.
 
yipthatman said:
I thought it would be Greenwood but it has to be rashy for me now.
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Yeah same here. Rashford, I also had the other one before both in regards to potential, current ability, and future explanation.. but Rashford now clear number one. Second I’d give to Wes Brown or Fletcher.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Do you count O'Shea? He's from the Republic of Ireland. Joined United at age 18 (Pogba joined at age 16), played for 2 clubs prior.
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O'Shea had agreed to come to United when he was 16. However, he wanted to play in the Ireland U/16 international tournament in Scotland in the April and finish his studies before coming over to Manchester that Summer.

Therefore he had just turned 17 when he signed for United. The two clubs he played for previously were local amateur boys clubs, not professional teams. He wasn't part of any Academy until he joined United.

He meets all the criteria of a youth player. (as does Pogba for that matter).
 
Can't split Brown and Fletcher. Brown was at a higher level for longer, albeit hampered by injury, but I think Fletcher's short lived peak was higher (for about 18 months pre illness he was top class). Rashford could/should surpass them but is in a similar bracket for now.

Not including players signed at 16+. Especially those who left at 18/19, just seems wrong to continue them a United youth product no matter if its technically accurate. You could make a case for O'Shea as he continued his progress into the United first team so all considered is more of a product of United's development than others, but he was below Brown and Fletcher anyway so it's a pretty pointless semantic debate.

Lingard is some way off the rest mentioned in this post. I'm not hugely against the guy but he's honestly more comparable to say Keith Gillespie or Kieran Richardson. He never would have lasted so long in past years when we were actually a good team.
 
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