Pique, Neville and Solskjaer hail Man Utd’s academy as they make it 4,000 games with kids in first-team squad
MANCHESTER UNITED hit 4,000 consecutive games with at least one academy graduate in the starting XI against Everton today.
Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard got the nod from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with Andreas Pereira, Mason Greenwood, Axel Tuanzebe and Brandon Williams on the bench.
It extends an incredible run that dates back to a clash with Fulham in 1937, when Tom Manley and Jack Wassall featured.
And club legends Solskjaer, Gerard Pique and Gary Neville have paid tribute to the famed youth system.
Boss Solskjaer said: “If they are good enough, they should be given a chance.
“It shows the club’s belief in the whole process and that we are good at identifying them, good at coaching them and they have stickability that they go all the way through.
“Let’s just make sure we have a good performance and earn the right to win the game because that is always going to be the main thing now – that we keep on having consistent performances that, in the end, if we put them in, we will move up the table.”
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While Neville – one of the famous Class on 1992 – added: “Manchester United’s academy fuels everything I’ve done in my life.”
Pique joined United’s academy as a teenager in 2004 before returning to Barcelona four years later – going on to enjoy an illustrious career
The World Cup winner beamed: “I went to Manchester as a child and I think I went back to Barca being a man.”
Speaking in the build-up to the game, McTominay revealed the attention to detail that helps the United production line.
He said: “I probably couldn’t tell you one player in the club who likes wearing black boots.
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“But it was the rules and something accustomed to every academy player and if someone tried to come out in red boots it’s like ‘you’re no different to any of us so get your black boots back on until you earn the respect and right to wear coloured boots.’
“I didn’t like the black boots. But you had to do it. You had to respect the rules.”
But the system has had its notable failures – including Ravel Morrison and Adnan Januzaj, who former academy director Nicky Butt thought would turn into the next Ryan Giggs.