Academy Graduates
Academy Graduates
David Beckham, George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton, Duncan Edwards, Ryan Giggs, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford are just some of the world-famous names who have emerged from Manchester United's legendary youth system, in a long and illustrious tradition spanning 4,000 competitive games and more than 50 trophies.
Here's the full list of Reds who rose through the ranks to play in our first team...
Here's the full list of Reds who rose through the ranks to play in our first team...
2020 onwards
The tradition of handing first-team debuts to deserving Academy players has continued into a new decade with the likes of Elanga, Garnacho and Hannibal...
2020s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Dan Gore | 26 September 2023 | Crystal Palace | 19 | TBC |
| Kobbie Mainoo | 10 January 2023 | Charlton Athletic | 17 | TBC |
| Charlie McNeill | 8 September 2022 | Real Sociedad | 18 | TBC |
| Alejandro Garnacho | 28 April 2022 | Chelsea | 17 | TBC |
| Tom Heaton | 8 December 2021 | BSC Young Boys | 35 | TBC |
| Zidane Iqbal | 8 December 2021 | BSC Young Boys | 18 | TBC |
| Charlie Savage | 8 December 2021 | BSC Young Boys | 21 | TBC |
| Will Fish | 23 May 2021 | Wolves | 17 | TBC |
| Hannibal | 23 May 2021 | Wolves | 18 | TBC |
| Anthony Elanga | 11 May 2021 | Leicester City | 19 | TBC |
| Shola Shoretire | 21 February 2021 | Newcastle United | 17 | TBC |
| Dean Henderson | 22 September 2020 | Luton Town | 23 | TBC |
| Teden Mengi | 5 August 2020 | LASK Linz | 18 | TBC |
2010 - 2019
Featuring Pogba, Lingard, Rashford and McTominay, it's been another successful decade of producing home-grown first-team talent...
2010s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Ravel Morrison | 26 October 2010 | Wolves | 17 | 3 |
| Tom Cleverley | 7 August 2011 | Manchester City | 21 | 79 |
| Paul Pogba | 20 September 2011 | Leeds United | 18 | 233 |
| Zeki Fryers | 20 September 2011 | Leeds United | 19 | 6 |
| Larnell Cole | 20 September 2011 | Leeds United | 18 | 1 |
| Michael Keane | 25 October 2011 | Aldershot | 18 | 5 |
| Will Keane | 31 December 2011 | Blackburn | 18 | 3 |
| Ryan Tunnicliffe | 26 September 2012 | Newcastle | 19 | 2 |
| Scott Wootton | 26 September 2012 | Newcastle | 21 | 3 |
| Robbie Brady | 26 September 2012 | Newcastle | 20 | 1 |
| Adnan Januzaj | 11 August 2013 | Wigan | 18 | 63 |
| James Wilson | 6 May 2014 | Hull City | 18 | 20 |
| Tom Lawrence | 6 May 2014 | Hull City | 20 | 1 |
| Tyler Blackett | 16 August 2014 | Swansea | 20 | 12 |
| Jesse Lingard | 16 August 2014 | Swansea | 21 | 232 |
| Andreas Pereira | 26 August 2014 | MK Dons | 18 | 75 |
| Reece James | 26 August 2014 | MK Dons | 20 | 1 |
| Paddy McNair | 27 September 2014 | West Ham | 19 | 27 |
| Tom Thorpe | 27 September 2014 | West Ham |
21 | 1 |
| Cameron Borthwick-Jackson | 7 November 2015 | West Brom | 18 | 14 |
| Donald Love | 3 February 2016 | Sunderland | 21 | 2 |
| Joe Riley | 22 February 2016 | Shrewsbury | 19 | 2 |
| Marcus Rashford | 25 February 2016 | Midtjylland | 18 | TBC |
| Tim Fosu-Mensah | 28 February 2016 | Arsenal | 18 | 30 |
| James Weir | 28 February 2016 | Arsenal | 20 | 1 |
| Joel Pereira | 29 January 2017 | Wigan | 20 | 3 |
| Axel Tuanzebe | 29 January 2017 | Wigan | 19 | TBC |
| Scott McTominay | 7 May 2017 | Arsenal | 20 |
TBC |
| Angel Gomes | 21 May 2017 | Crystal Palace | 16 | 10 |
| Josh Harrop | 21 May 2017 | Crystal Palace | 21 | 1 |
| Demi Mitchell | 21 May 2017 | Crystal Palace | 20 | 1 |
| Tahith Chong | 5 January 2019 | Reading | 19 | 16 |
| James Garner | 27 February 2019 | Crystal Palace | 17 | 7 |
| Mason Greenwood | 6 March 2019 | PSG | 17 | TBC |
| Brandon Williams | 25 September 2019 | Rochdale | 19 | TBC |
| Di'Shon Bernard | 28 November 2019 | Astana | 19 | TBC |
| Ethan Galbraith | 28 November 2019 | Astana | 18 | TBC |
| Ethan Laird | 28 November 2019 | Astana | 18 | TBC |
| Dylan Levitt | 28 November 2019 | Astana | 19 | 1 |
| D'Mani Mellor | 28 November 2019 | Astana | 19 | 1 |
| Largie Ramazani | 28 November 2019 | Astana | 18 | 1 |
2000 - 2009
Evans, Fletcher, Welbeck and the scorer of that goal against Aston Villa, Macheda, are among the names given noughties debuts by Sir Alex Ferguson...
2000s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Paul Rachubka | 11 January 2000 | South Melbourne | 18 | 3 |
| Michael Stewart | 31 October 2000 | Watford | 19 | 14 |
| Danny Webber | 28 November 2000 | Sunderland | 18 | 3 |
| Daniel Nardiello | 5 November 2001 | Arsenal | 19 | 4 |
| Jimmy Davis | 5 November 2001 | Arsenal | 19 | 1 |
| Lee Roche | 5 November 2001 | Arsenal | 21 | 3 |
| Danny Pugh | 18 September 2002 | Maccabi Haifa | 19 | 7 |
| Kieran Richardson | 23 October 2002 | Olympiacos | 18 | 81 |
| Mads Timm | 29 October 2002 | Maccabi Haifa | 17 | 1 |
| Darren Fletcher | 12 March 2003 | Basel | 19 | 305 |
| Mark Lynch | 18 March 2003 | Deportivo La Coruna | 21 | 1 |
| Chris Eagles | 28 October 2003 | Leeds United | 17 | 17 |
| Eddie Johnson | 28 October 2003 | Leeds United | 19 | 1 |
| Phil Bardsley | 3 December 2003 | West Brom | 18 | 18 |
| Paul Tierney | 3 December 2003 | West Brom | 21 | 1 |
| Jonathan Spector | 25 August 2004 | Dinamo Bucharest | 18 | 8 |
| Gerard Pique | 26 October 2004 | Crewe | 17 | 23 |
| Sylvan Ebanks-Blake | 26 October 2004 | Crewe | 18 | 2 |
| Giuseppe Rossi | 10 November 2004 | Crystal Palace | 17 | 14 |
| David Jones | 1 December 2004 | Arsenal | 20 | 4 |
| Darron Gibson | 26 October 2005 | Barnet | 18 | 84 |
| Lee Martin | 26 October 2005 | Barnet | 18 | 3 |
| Ritchie Jones | 26 October 2005 | Barnet | 19 | 5 |
| Adam Eckersley | 26 October 2005 | Barnet | 20 | 1 |
| Michael Barnes | 25 October 2006 | Crewe | 18 | 1 |
| Kieran Lee | 25 October 2006 | Crewe | 18 | 3 |
| David Gray | 25 October 2006 | Crewe | 18 | 1 |
| Ryan Shawcross | 25 October 2006 | Crewe | 19 | 2 |
| Phil Marsh | 25 October 2006 | Crewe | 19 | 1 |
| Jonny Evans | 19 August 2007 | Coventry | 19 | 135 |
| Fraizer Campbell | 19 August 2007 | Manchester City | 19 | 4 |
| Danny Simpson | 26 September 2007 | Coventry | 20 | 8 |
| Ben Amos | 23 September 2008 | Middlesbrough | 18 | 7 |
| Danny Welbeck | 23 September 2008 | Middlesbrough | 17 | 142 |
| James Chester | 20 January 2009 | Derby County | 19 | 1 |
| Richard Eckersley | 24 January 2009 | Tottenham | 19 | 2 |
| Federico Macheda | 5 April 2009 | Aston Villa | 17 | 36 |
| Joshua King | 23 September 2009 | Wolves | 17 | 1 |
1990 - 1999
Our most famous crop of youngsters since the Busby Babes emerges, following the FA Youth Cup win of 1992...
1990s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Mark Bosnich | 30 April 1990 | Wimbledon | 18 | 38 |
| Darren Ferguson | 26 February 1991 | Sheffield United | 19 | 30 |
| Ryan Giggs | 2 March 1991 | Everton | 17 | 919 |
| Paul Wratten | 2 April 1991 | Wimbledon | 20 | 2 |
| Ian Wilkinson | 9 October 1991 | Cambridge | 18 | 1 |
| Gary Neville | 16 September 1992 | Torpedo Moscow | 17 | 603 |
| David Beckham | 23 September 1992 | Brighton | 17 | 394 |
| Nicky Butt | 21 November 1992 | Oldham | 17 | 387 |
| Keith Gillespie | 5 January 1993 | Bury | 17 | 14 |
| Ben Thornley | 26 February 1994 | West Ham | 18 | 14 |
| Colin McKee | 8 May 1994 | Coventry | 20 | 1 |
| Paul Scholes | 21 September 1994 | Port Vale | 19 | 707 |
| John O'Kane | 21 September 1994 | Port Vale | 19 | 7 |
| Simon Davies | 21 September 1994 | Port Vale | 20 | 20 |
| Chris Casper | 21 September 1994 | Port Vale | 19 | 7 |
| Kevin Pilkington | 19 November 1994 | Crystal Palace | 20 | 8 |
| Phil Neville | 28 January 1995 | Wrexham | 18 | 386 |
| Terry Cooke | 16 September 1995 | Bolton | 19 | 8 |
| Michael Appleton | 23 October 1996 | Swindon | 20 | 2 |
| Michael Clegg | 23 November 1996 | Middlesbrough | 19 | 24 |
| John Curtis | 14 October 1997 | Ipswich | 19 | 18 |
| Phil Mulryne | 14 October 1997 | Ipswich | 19 | 5 |
| Ronnie Wallwork | 25 October 1997 | Barnsley | 20 | 28 |
| Michael Twiss | 25 February 1998 | Barnsley | 20 | 2 |
| Wes Brown | 4 May 1998 | Leeds | 18 | 360 |
| Danny Higginbotham | 10 May 1998 | Barnsley | 19 | 7 |
| Mark Wilson | 21 October 1998 | Brondby | 19 | 10 |
| Alex Notman | 2 December 1998 | Tottenham | 18 | 1 |
| Nick Culkin | 22 August 1999 | Arsenal | 21 | 1 |
| John O'Shea | 13 October 1999 | Aston Villa | 18 | 392 |
| Luke Chadwick | 13 October 1999 | Aston Villa | 18 | 39 |
| Richie Wellens | 13 October 1999 | Aston Villa | 19 | 1 |
| David Healy | 13 October 1999 | Aston Villa | 20 | 3 |
1980 - 1989
Three players who would score goals in FA Cup finals - Hughes, Whiteside and Martin - are among the notable names here...
1980s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Mike Duxbury | 23 August 1980 | Birmingham | 20 | 378 |
| Scott McGarvey | 13 September 1980 | Leicester | 17 | 25 |
| Norman Whiteside | 24 April 1982 | Brighton | 16 | 274 |
| Alan Davies | 1 May 1982 | Southampton | 20 | 10 |
| Mark Hughes | 26 October 1983 | Port Vale | 19 | 467 |
| Mark Dempsey | 2 November 1983 | Spartak Varna | 19 | 2 |
| Graeme Hogg | 7 January 1984 | Bournemouth | 19 | 110 |
| Clayton Blackmore | 16 May 1984 | Nottingham Forest | 19 | 245 |
| Billy Garton | 26 September 1984 | Burnley | 19 | 51 |
| Stephen Pears | 12 January 1985 | Nottingham Forest | 22 | 5 |
| Nicky Wood | 26 December 1985 | Everton | 19 | 4 |
| Gary Walsh | 13 December 1986 | Aston Villa | 18 | 63 |
| Tony Gill | 3 January 1987 | Southampton | 18 | 14 |
| Deiniol Graham | 7 October 1987 | Hull | 18 | 4 |
| Lee Martin | 9 May 1988 | Wimbledon | 20 | 109 |
| Russell Beardsmore | 24 September 1988 | West Ham | 19 | 73 |
| Mark Robins | 12 October 1988 | Rotherham | 18 | 70 |
| David Wilson | 23 November 1988 | Sheffield Wednesday | 19 | 6 |
| Derek Brazil | 10 May 1989 | Everton | 20 | 2 |
1970 - 1979
Our seventies list features four starters and one substitute from our 1977 FA Cup final success - Albiston, McCreery, McIlroy, Nicholl and Brian Greenhoff...
1970s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Willie Watson | 26 September 1970 | Blackpool | 20 | 14 |
| Ian Donald | 7 October 1970 | Portsmouth | 18 | 6 |
| Tommy O'Neil | 5 May 1971 | Manchester City | 18 | 68 |
| Sammy McIlroy | 6 November 1971 | Manchester City | 17 | 419 |
| Tony Young | 4 April 1972 | Sheffield United | 19 | 97 |
| John Connaughton | 4 April 1972 | Sheffield United | 22 | 4 |
| Peter Fletcher | 14 April 1973 | Stoke | 19 | 7 |
| Arnie Sidebottom | 23 April 1973 | Sheffield United | 19 | 20 |
| Brian Greenhoff | 8 September 1973 | Ipswich | 20 | 271 |
| Clive Griffiths | 27 October 1973 | Burnley | 18 | 7 |
| Paul Bielby | 13 March 1974 | Manchester City | 17 | 4 |
| Arthur Albiston | 9 October 1974 | Manchester City | 17 | 485 |
| Jimmy Nicholl | 5 April 1975 | Southampton | 18 | 248 |
| David McCreery | 19 August 1975 | Birmingham | 17 | 110 |
| Tony Grimshaw | 10 September 1975 | Brentford | 17 | 2 |
| Jimmy Kelly | 20 December 1975 | Wolves | 18 | 1 |
| Peter Coyne | 24 April 1976 | Leicester | 17 | 2 |
| Steve Paterson | 29 September 1976 | Ajax | 18 | 10 |
| Jonathan Clark | 10 November 1976 | Sunderland | 17 | 1 |
| Martyn Rogers | 22 October 1977 | West Brom | 17 | 1 |
| Andy Ritchie | 26 December 1977 | Everton | 17 | 42 |
1960 - 1969
A decade of successful rebirth for the first team, and the birth of a superstar from the club's youth system...
1960s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Nobby Lawton | 9 February 1960 | Luton | 20 | 44 |
| Jimmy Nicholson | 20 August 1960 | Everton | 17 | 68 |
| Frank Haydock | 20 August 1960 | Preston | 19 | 6 |
| Ian Moir | 1 October 1960 | Bolton | 17 | 45 |
| Nobby Stiles | 1 October 1960 | Bolton | 18 | 395 |
| Harold Bratt | 2 November 1960 | Bradford | 21 | 1 |
| Ronnie Briggs | 21 January 1961 | Leicester | 17 | 11 |
| Sammy McMillan | 4 November 1961 | Sheffield Wednesday | 20 | 15 |
| Phil Chisnall | 2 December 1961 | Everton | 18 | 47 |
| Dennis Walker | 20 May 1963 | Nottingham Forest | 18 | 1 |
| David Sadler | 24 August 1963 | Sheffield Wednesday | 17 | 335 |
| George Best | 14 September 1963 | West Brom | 17 | 470 |
| Willie Anderson | 28 December 1963 | Burnley | 16 | 12 |
| Wilf Tranter | 7 March 1964 | West Ham | 19 | 1 |
| Albert Kinsey | 9 January 1965 | Chester City | 19 | 1 |
| John Fitzpatrick | 24 February 1965 | Sunderland | 18 | 147 |
| John Aston Jnr | 12 April 1965 | Leicester | 17 | 187 |
| Bobby Noble | 9 April 1966 | Leicester | 20 | 33 |
| Jimmy Ryan | 4 May 1966 | West Brom | 20 | 27 |
| Brian Kidd | 12 August 1967 | Tottenham | 18 | 266 |
| Francis Burns | 2 September 1967 | West Ham | 18 | 156 |
| Frank Kopel | 9 September 1967 | Burnley | 18 | 12 |
| Alan Gowling | 30 March 1968 | Stoke | 19 | 87 |
| Jimmy Rimmer | 15 April 1968 | Fulham | 20 | 46 |
| Carlo Sartori | 9 October 1968 | Southampton | 20 | 55 |
| Steve James | 12 October 1968 | Liverpool | 18 | 161 |
| Don Givens | 9 August 1969 | Crystal Palace | 20 | 9 |
| Paul Edwards | 19 August 1969 | Everton | 21 | 68 |
1950 - 1959
Five-times winners of the FA Youth Cup, the Busby Babes would enter football folklore for both triumphant and tragic reasons...
1950s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Frank Clempson | 18 February 1950 | Sunderland | 19 | 15 |
| Jeff Whitefoot | 15 April 1950 | Portsmouth | 16 | 95 |
| Tom McNulty | 15 April 1950 | Portsmouth | 20 | 60 |
| Don Gibson | 26 August 1950 | Bolton | 21 | 115 |
| Billy Redman | 7 October 1950 | Sheffield Wed | 22 | 38 |
| Mark Jones | 7 October 1950 | Sheffield Wed | 17 | 121 |
| Cliff Birkett | 2 December 1950 | Newcastle | 17 | 13 |
| Jackie Blanchflower | 24 November 1951 | Liverpool | 18 | 117 |
| Johnny Scott | 4 October 1952 | Wolves | 18 | 3 |
| Eddie Lewis | 29 November 1952 | West Brom | 17 | 24 |
| David Pegg | 6 December 1952 | Middlesbrough | 17 | 150 |
| John Doherty | 6 December 1952 | Middlesbrough | 17 | 26 |
| Bill Foulkes | 13 December 1952 | Liverpool | 20 | 688 |
| Duncan Edwards | 4 April 1953 | Cardiff | 16 | 177 |
| Dennis Viollet | 11 April 1953 | Newcastle | 19 | 299 |
| Les Olive | 11 April 1953 | Newcastle | 24 | 1 |
| Noel McFarlane | 13 February 1954 | Tottenham | 19 | 1 |
| Paddy Kennedy | 2 October 1954 | Wolves | 19 | 1 |
| Albert Scanlon | 20 November 1954 | Arsenal | 19 | 127 |
| Freddie Goodwin | 20 November 1954 | Arsenal | 21 | 107 |
| Geoff Bent | 11 December 1954 | Burnley | 22 | 12 |
| Billy Whelan | 26 March 1955 | Preston | 19 | 98 |
| Walter Whitehurst | 14 September 1955 | Everton | 21 | 1 |
| Eddie Colman | 12 November 1955 | Bolton | 19 | 108 |
| Ronnie Cope | 29 September 1956 | Arsenal | 21 | 106 |
| Bobby Charlton | 6 October 1956 | Charlton | 18 | 759 |
| David Gaskell | 24 October 1956 | Manchester City | 16 | 119 |
| Tony Hawksworth | 27 October 1956 | Blackpool | 17 | 1 |
| Gordon Clayton | 16 March 1957 | Wolves | 20 | 2 |
| Alex Dawson | 22 April 1957 | Burnley | 17 | 93 |
| Peter Jones | 19 October 1957 | Portsmouth | 19 | 1 |
| Kenny Morgans | 21 December 1957 | Leicester | 18 | 23 |
| Mark Pearson | 19 February 1958 | Sheffield Wed | 18 | 80 |
| Shay Brennan | 19 February 1958 | Sheffield Wed | 20 | 359 |
| Bobby Harrop | 5 March 1958 | West Brom | 21 | 11 |
| Joe Carolan | 22 November 1958 | Luton Town | 21 | 71 |
| Reg Hunter | 27 December 1958 | Aston Villa | 20 | 1 |
| Johnny Giles | 12 September 1959 | Tottenham | 18 | 115 |
1940 - 1949
Matt Busby's plan for post-war success begins as Mitten, Morris and Aston break through in time for the 1948 FA Cup final...
1940s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Joe Walton | 26 January 1946 | Preston | 20 | 23 |
| Charlie Mitten | 31 August 1946 | Grimsby | 25 | 162 |
| John Aston Snr | 18 September 1946 | Chelsea | 25 | 284 |
| Johnny Morris | 26 October 1946 | Sunderland | 23 | 93 |
| James Pegg | 15 November 1947 | Derby | 21 | 2 |
| Johnny Anderson | 20 December 1947 | Middlesbrough | 26 | 40 |
| Sammy Lynn | 3 January 1948 | Charlton | 27 | 13 |
| Berry Brown | 31 January 1948 | Sheffield United | 20 | 4 |
| Brian Birch | 27 August 1949 | West Brom | 17 | 17 |
1930 - 1939
On 30 October 1937, Manley and Wassall would start a remarkable sequence - the first of 4,000 consecutive United games to feature a youth product in our squad...
1930s
| Player | Debut date | Opponents | Age at debut | Total appearances |
| Tom Manley | 5 December 1931 | Millwall | 19 | 195 |
| Jackie Wassall | 9 November 1935 | Swansea City | 18 | 47 |
| Stan Pearson | 13 January 1937 | Chesterfield | 18 | 343 |
| Johnny Carey | 25 September 1937 | Southampton | 18 | 344 |
| Johnny Hanlon | 26 November 1938 | Huddersfield | 21 | 69 |