How United and Jose are leading the way

No other club in the division selected as many of their own former youth-teamers (four), suggesting the Reds, and the boss, remain at the forefront of the ideal of trusting players brought through the system. Suggestions United’s full squad has more Premier League experience than any of our rivals, in terms of appearances, hints there is a good mix of youth and experience at the manager’s disposal.

Paul Pogba, Andreas Pereira and Marcus Rashford all started the 2-1 win over Leicester City last Friday night - each has not only played FA Youth Cup football for the club but scored in the competition. Pereira’s elevation into contention has shown the benefit of his loan stints at Granada and Valencia, with United keeping close checks on his development throughout.

Scott McTominay came off the bench to complete an all-Academy midfield for eight minutes, surely something that is pretty unheard of since the days of the Class of '92, before Pogba made way for Marouane Fellaini to take a well-deserved rest. There is also the prospect of Jesse Lingard, like Pogba a winner of the FA Youth Cup with the Reds, coming back into the fold once he is back up to speed following England’s World Cup exertions.

Tour 2018, presented by Aon, afforded more opportunities for youngsters to work with Jose and train alongside top-class stars and household names. Tahith Chong, Angel Gomes and Mason Greenwood all returned to score for their lower-age teams on Friday, and will look to continue impressing in order to catch the manager’s eye again. James Garner may be 17 but, following his experience across the Atlantic and in the friendly at Bayern Munich, he stepped up to Ricky Sbragia’s Under-23s at Fulham.

Following the game at the Allianz Arena, Jose commented: "There was a moment I was looking to [Ander] Herrera and there was Axel [Tuanzebe] centre-back to left, Demetri [Mitchell] left wing-back, [James] Garner on the left of midfield, and [Tahith] Chong. And, at the same time, [Robert] Lewandowski on Axel, [Arjen] Robben on Mitchell, [Leon] Goretzka on Garner and Sulle on Chong. It was fantastic, absolutely fantastic."

So, while progress is being made further down the production line, in the meantime it is fair to say the very early signs from 2018/19 are that United and Jose are leading the way in fielding Academy products. Indeed, by our reckoning, the Reds had at least double the amount of former youth-team players on the pitch compared to all other 19 Premier League clubs.