How the Academy works with the first team

During his appearance in the new Inside Carrington podcast episode, alongside legendary full-back Denis Irwin, Binnion talked through how things work behind the scenes at our base, providing great insight into how youngsters are picked to hone their experience alongside senior colleagues.

During regular conversations with Ruben Amorim's assistant coach Carlos Fernandes, decisions are taken to help the senior squad prepare for their upcoming matches, while also furthering the education of the teenagers hoping to one day break into the side themselves.

"I will speak to Carlos, Ruben's assistant," Binnion told presenters Helen Evans and Liam Bradford. "I'll speak to him daily, twice daily, three times daily. I probably speak to Ruben, on average, maybe every couple of weeks, touching base on players.

"And [director of football] Jason [Wilcox], we have conversations regularly, whether it's myself or [director of Academy] Stephen Torpey. So, yeah, that's sort of the managing upwards bit, in terms of getting the plan right for players that are with the first team.

"So, if you look back over the last couple of weeks, we've got Shea [Lacey] there in the last few squads. Diego Leon and Ayden Heaven have played for the Under-21s.

"So it's a daily conversation around which players are going up and and why.

"Sometimes, Ruben or Jason might want a certain player to go and train," he added. "Sometimes, we might feel that the [Academy] game is really important for a player, so another player might get the opportunity to train with the first team.

"We can't lose sight of this, the development of training with the first team is massive and, being around Ruben and his staff, to be ready when the opportunity comes.

"So I would say Shea is going through that phase now, where that period of training is far more important than any games.

"But, in the previous months' games, for Shea to play was really important for him to get that body of games and confidence."

There is also close co-operation with Under-18s coach Darren Fletcher, as they have a big FA Youth Cup game on the horizon, against Peterborough United in the third round, at Old Trafford, on Tuesday 9 December, with tickets on sale now.

"It's always sort of two-way conversations," added Binnion. "But, with multiple stakeholders, not loads of people. Myself, Stephen Torpey, Jason Wilcox, Carlos, Ruben and then, obviously, Fletch.

"My conversations with him are massive around, not just the Under-18s group, but the Under-21s group. So his insight and perspective, with Colin Little, is huge so it really is a collaborative [thing].

"I know that's a really in-trend word to use but it is because, if it's not collaborative, then we are going to let the players down and we're not going to get it right for the first team, if we're not all aligned, with the players that we see needing those opportunities, whether it be first-team training or whether it be playing games."