Could this be United's youngest PL team ever?
Manchester United are on course to post our youngest side, on average, in a season since the Premier League started in 1992.
According to data available on stats site transfermarkt.com, the record held by the 1995/96 team is under real threat as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's rebuild has one eye on developing a successful group for years to come.
Sir Alex Ferguson's squad that won the Double was inspired by Eric Cantona, but incorporated a number of the Class of '92 stars such as Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham.
With nine fixtures still outstanding in 2019/20, and the hope that the campaign can be concluded via Project Restart, it will be interesting to see if Ole's charges end up remaining as the youngest.
United currently have the youngest average age in the division, 24.8 years, and the last time we were top in this respect came in that 1995/96 term, when it was shared with Aston Villa as both sides recorded figures of 25.7. The following year, we were in second spot with Villa again at the summit.
The Reds were the joint-third youngest team in 2014/15, when Louis van Gaal was in charge, and several youngsters such as Tyler Blackett, Paddy McNair, Adnan Januzaj and James Wilson were involved.
The eldest selection, on average, was in 2010/11, when it was over 28 (28.2) for the only time in the Premier League era. This placed us 19th overall that season in that respect but the experienced side did the business on the pitch by winning the league and reaching the Champions League final. Edwin van der Sar, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Giggs were among the chief contributors.
United have not posted an average age of under 25 in a Premier League season before, so this current figure highlights Solskjaer's faith in youth and the belief that the current crop will only improve as they mature.
Bruno Fernandes (25) and Odion Ighalo (30) arrived in January to bolster the squad, but the departure of Ashley Young (34) to Inter Milan will also have an impact on the final stat. We may have to take into consideration the fact everyone will be marginally older than would ordinarily be the case if the season does not end until July or even August!
Manchester United's average age in the Premier League
1992/93: 26.5
1993/94: 27.0
1994/95: 26.7
1995/96: 25.3
1996/97: 25.7
1997/98: 26.1
1998/99: 26.4
1999/2000: 26.6
2000/01: 26.8
2001/02: 27.3
2002/03: 26.9
2003/04: 25.7
2004/05: 25.9
2005/06: 26.3
2006/07: 27.2
2007/08: 26.5
2008/09: 27.0
2009/10: 27.7
2010/11: 28.2
2011/12: 26.3
2012/13: 27.2
2013/14: 26.6
2014/15: 25.8
2015/16: 25.5
2016/17: 26.6
2017/18: 26.6
2018/19: 26.2
2019/20: 24.8
Stats courtesy of transfermarkt.com.