Shropshire Star

Homegrown players still vital to United – Nicky Butt

Butt was one of Manchester United’s fabled ‘Class of 92’.

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Manchester United’s head of academy Nicky Butt insists the club will always promote homegrown prospects despite their wealth as they have formed the core of their most successful sides.

A Press Association Sport study has found that Jose Mourinho used 10 players who had emerged from United’s academy in the Premier League last season, a figure greater than any other top-flight club.

Their history for promoting youth extends back to the ‘Busby Babes’ in the 1950s, while Butt himself was one of the fabled ‘Class of 92’ four decades later, and Mourinho has carried that tradition on by utilising the likes of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.

“I think the club won’t allow for (there to be) no homegrown players,” he told Press Association Sport.

“The club’s always had a history for breaking transfer records and getting the best players around the world but they’ve also been known for developing their own players that help the superstars bed in and teach them about the club, the area and the history, and I think it’s important to have that.

“The teams that have been successful over the years, right back to the Busby Babes, have always had people that have known the club and grown up with the club in their blood.”

Butt knows the system well having been one of those players, like Rashford and Lingard, that came through the age groups before representing United at senior level.

Part of his role now is to persuade parents that United is the best destination for their offspring to develop and Butt believes that, even though they may not be aware of it yet, Rashford and Lingard have a huge influence as bastions of the system’s success.

“For us to be able to look at the kids and say, ‘Marcus and Jesse were here from eight, nine’, that’s massively important for me when I go and speak to parents,” Butt added.

“I can look them in the eye and say, ‘It can happen because they’re doing it now’.

Butt was one of United's 'Class of 92' along with David Beckham and Phil Neville
Butt was one of United’s ‘Class of 92’ along with David Beckham and Phil Neville (Rui Vieira/PA)

“They don’t know it but they’ve got a massive thing on their shoulders – they’ve got to deal with the first team, the press, the social media, the manager, international things, but there’s this little thing on the back of their shoulders that I don’t think they realise yet that they’ve got to carry the club and keep the tradition going. That’s massive.”

Of the 10 homegrown products Mourinho gave appearances to last season, six – Joel Pereira, Demetri Mitchell, Josh Harrop, Scott McTominay, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Angel Gomes – played fewer than 100 minutes.

Asked what advice he would give to those hoping to become first-team regulars, Butt replied: “They have to go back to square one again, go back to training hard, working hard.”

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