Crisis-hit Manchester United was without 12 players from the first team for the gloomy 1-0 defeat against Tottenham when they fell on a record-bearing 15th place in the Premier League table.
The 12th defeat of Man Utd in 25 league matches left them 12 points above the drop zone and the last time it was so bad at Old Trafford, the club was banned from the top flight.
To make matters worse, with important stars Amad Diallo and Lisandro Martinez for the season, Ruben Amorim had to call eight teenagers, including seven Academy Stars, on the couch to be confronted with Spurs.
Yet it seemed like an uncomfortable burden for the 40-year-old when he made only one change by bringing Chido Obi into injury time-a staggering decision seen how overwhelming those on the field played.
In what perhaps the understatement of the season is, Amorim said it was a moment “when everything goes wrong”. Yet there is a small spark of hope that he can lean on: an 87-year-old tradition of promoting young people.
Returning to before the Second World War, the Red Devils have mentioned at least one Academy graduate in their team since Tom Manley and Jack Wassall made the team magazine in 1937.
It is a run that appeals to 4,279 games – with names such as Bobby Charlton, George Best, Mark Hughes, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Marcus Rashford under the illustrious list of the club.
Time and time again, Carrington has provided crisis for the Red Devils, and thanks to Nick Cox and his excellent team it is one of the few parts of the club fans that can still be extremely proud.
Amorim wants to be understandably “careful” with the newest harvest of stars by not hurrying their development, but financially paralyzed with the club for years of mismanagement, new signing sessions that suit his system will also be difficult to find.
Amorim trusted youth at ex-club Sporting Lisbon, and after a while he will probably learn to do the same at United, but who are the star Amorim now has to turn to help the Salvage United season?
Jack Moorhouse – 19 years old
Jack Moorhouse was the city's conversation when it was announced that he was set up to travel to Tottenham with the first team after the four -fold crisis of midfield injuries on the Red Devils.
Moorhouse scored twice when Amorim personally went to look at the Under-21s while they defeated Southampton 5-1 in December.
Moorhouse often plays as an advanced midfielder and is preferred for his exceptional ball food, which means that he is labeled as a Paul Pogba 2.0 and compared to Morgan Rogers.
United screams for reinforcements after the departure of Rashford and Antony, and with Amad's long-term injury, Moorhouse can be given minutes in one of the two no. 10 rolls for grasping.
Harry Amass – 17 years old
Perhaps the second best player on the list of United fans after a certain striker, Amass has long been praised as a star of the future.
In the past, the left-sided defender has drawn countless comparisons with Luke Shaw's profile, where the former Southampton star even said that Amass was one to pay attention to the future.
He was previously selected in senior teams and was called in the Red Devils Europa League team at the start of this season and it is not a shock that there has been interest in his signature of Premier League clubs.
Now that Tyrell Malacia is being broadcast on loan, Amorim needs reliable options to play left-back, so watch this room for the dynamic defender to play when £ 25 million signs Patrick Dorgu is rotated.
Jack Fletcher – 17 years old
The son of Man Utd Cult Hero Darren Fletcher, the teenager, has followed his father's footsteps by becoming a midfielder. He was poached from the Academy of Manchester City in the summer of 2023 next to his twin brother, Tyler.
He has impressed the youth level that has been nominated for the PL2 Player of the Month Award, while his first time was admitted to a senior matchday team against Brentford.
Fletcher is left-feet and is said to be an all-action dynamo, which is just able to take the ball out of his middle behind and play through the lines while crashing the opposition box.
That gives Amorim a nice versatile option to add to his exhausted arsenal of weapons while United continues to compete over three fronts.
Elyh Harrison – 18 years old
The goalkeeper department was probably one of the last things in the spirit of Amorim in January, but injuries to Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton have left Andre Onana as the only senior shot stopper.
Harrison was on loan until January at National League North Side Chester when United reminded him after a successful spell of four months, although the performances in the FA Cup mean that he is Cup-bound.
After a great youth campaign in the 2023/24 season, Harrison became the youngest recipient of the Denzil Haroun Reserve Team player of the year since Adnan Januzaj and only the goalkeeper to win the prize.
Chester -Baas Calum Mcintyre said the teenager, who turns 19 on February 19, has “incredible pedigree” in Old Trafford. And Onana must get injured, Harrison will be parachuted to try to give safe hands between the sticks.
Tyler Fredricson – 19 years old
Relatively speaking, Tyler Fredricson has less hype around him than his counterparts. But in honesty, very few central defenders generate the same hype as their more attack -oriented teammates.
Although that does not mean that he is less capable, in fact on the contrary. He signed his first professional contract with the club in 2022 and has since had a steady increase due to the ranks.
Fredricson, a regular English Youth International, played a crucial role in the final success of the FA Youth Cup Under-18S in 2022, despite missing the final due to illness.
Fredricson may be behind fellow teenagers Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven in the pecking order, but with Lisandro Martinez for the season and Squad needs elsewhere it is easy to imagine that he records a few minutes of the first team before the season concludes .
Sekou Kone – 19 years old
Sekou Kone was broken by Man Utd last summer in a transfer of £ 1 million from Malian Outfit Guidars and has been promoted a number of times to be in and around the first team.
The defensive midfielder made waves at the 2023 World Cup under 17 when he helped Mali third and then in a tournament under the age of 18 in April 2024.
Although he is dubbed as the next Yaya Toure, he is seen as a long-term option at the No. 6 place and is taken care of to be ready for the first team, possibly as Casemiro's long-term replacement of the house.
Lead coach under the age of 21 Travis Binnion told the club website last month that KONE would become a “really good player”, but that he first had to grab with the language and learn the physical demands around a United No. 6.
Ayden Heaven – 18 years old
At the end of the winter transfer window from Arsenal, heaven was poached for a compensation costs of approximately £ 1.5 million and immediately gone into the team of the first team.
The central defender was a star in the Gunners Academy and was rewarded by making his senior debut earlier this season with ten minutes of action in the League Cup against Preston.
On the left with a large 6ft 2in-frame, a potential movement is warned to find a long-term successor to Martinez in the left center-back because of the injury issues of the Argentinian.
Heaven is also considered able to play as a box-to-box midfielder, who had led to comparisons with Patrick Vieira.
Chido Obi – 17 years old
Last, but certainly not least, is Obi, the wonderful kid who scored goals for fun in the youth football game for Arsenal and now for Man Utd.
OBI has scored 12 goals in Nine Fa Youth Cup and Under-18 League matches since member of the accession, which contributes to his record of 41 total goals in the Premier League U18 competition, including ten in one match against Liverpool up At the age of 15.
He scored a 15-minute hat trick on his husband Utd debut this season and for the collision of Man Utd in Tottenham, he took a hat trick in the FA Youth Cup against Chelsea.
Amorim described the 17-year-old as “smart”, even though he gave him only two minutes to try to influence the game, but Obi publicly thanked the Portuguese for making him the 252nd Academy graduate.
There are other stars that are not mentioned above that can make their debut in 2025 such as James Scanlon, Shea Lacey, Gabriele Biancheri or Godwill Kukonki.
United has also concluded a £ 7 million deal for Paraguayan defender Diego Leon, who will officially participate in the summer.
These rising stars all come of course with the reservation of getting the time and patience to develop slowly.
The large academy graduate from last season, Kobbie Mainoo, looked this season after he had been running into the ground for the past 12 months, including with the English national team in the euro.
A physical breakdown seemed almost inevitable and the dynamic midfielder is now estimated at least six weeks.
Even big money that Yoro signed is wrapped in cotton wool under Amorim, but hopefully when the time comes, he will be confident to increase the load of minutes that these stars take.
Comments