Nicky Butt is Thrilled by the talent coming by Manchester United’s youth
System – until academy graduates are helping to make the team but he won’t rest
Perennial winners .
A member of the Class of 92 is playing an essential part in aiding the current crop make that jump out of the youth ranks to the side at Old Trafford.
Butt has overseen lots of homegrown talent linking up with the side of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and was promoted to mind of first-team development in the summertime from head of academy.
Yet that is not enough for the former England international, who knows the heights United should be scaling having been a crucial part of many of the successes of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Butt said:”I think you can judge me and the individuals who develop for the first team in hopefully two or three years when we’re challenging for titles.
“If you are challenging for titles and getting gamers in the first team, that is if you know you are doing an incredible job.
“We have some excellent kids coming to the first team today who are doing very well.
“However, I think that the peak of this mountain within my occupation is when Man United are where they ought to be and will be again – and we are still getting gamers into the first team. That is when you’re able to say we are doing a job that is really excellent.
“We’re doing a fantastic job now. Forget the youthful ones, that the U12s, U13s they’re always doing great.
“But me, Neil Ryan (Under-18 coach) along with Neil Wood (Under-23 coach) and the service team about that, when we are getting players to the first team and we’re winning titles and becoming to the later phases of the Champions League, and then we’re doing an incredible job.”
This week the importance of the academy was underlined by ed Woodward to investors.
The executive vice-chairman also emphasized the youthful talent being brought in under the radar the exception being Hannibal Mejbri, signed by Monaco aged 16 at the summer for a fee which could hit #9.3m.
“It’s difficult to catch him beneath the radar when we’ve chased him so long and he’s come from a major club to get a large charge, so that’s hopeless,” Butt said.
“But you want to become young people under the radar since, coming from a different country and getting the price in your head and coming to one of the greatest nightclubs in the world, there is going to be so much pressure at the first place.
“I’ve got a 16-year-old kid , I would hate that strain in their own shoulders, but they have that and it would be absurd to put them out there too soon, since you don’t know what is around the corner. They’re kids.
“There’s a very long road into the first group and big bumps and some are going to do exactly what Mason (Greenwood) or even Marcus (Rashford)’ve done, some may go the Jesse (Lingard) manner – going on loan 5 or six occasions and getting there.
“We’ve got some excellent players whom I think can play for Man United. When, I do not know. However they’ll play for Man United and, of course, a number of them were brought through the rankings from eight, seven, nine or even 10.”