Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes the Red Devils have once again established themselves as a dream location for any young player.
United's slump in the last few seasons has seen their reputation take a slight hit, and their problems in recruitment were summed up in January when they failed to convince now-Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland that Old Trafford would be a better home than Signal Iduna Park.
Solskjaer's current focus is on landing Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho, who has also been linked to pretty much every European giant, and the boss insisted (via The Mirror) that United are back to being an attractive side,
“I’m not in a job to get excited - I’m here to improve the team and try to mould the team in a way we as coaching staff and a management team believe that the club should be playing," he said.
“Results and performances are coming and I think Man Utd is attractive for any young player out there with ambition.
“I think the earlier you get the players in and the longer you have them in the club environment the more loyal they will be to the club. They will trust you as coaching staff and management that we have their best interests and the club’s best interests at heart.
“We’ve always given young players a chance, that’s in our DNA and it will always follow us.
I don’t know how many games we’ve had now with academy players in the team, I know it’s more than 4,000, so we’ll still keep on improving our Academy and put players through that system.”
It's actually 4,028 consecutive games with an academy player in the squad. Not bad.
United currently find themselves on a 17-game unbeaten run in all competitions and have recently looked like the only side who actually want to join Liverpool and Manchester City in the top four, earning impressive results through some outstanding team performances.
“I think you have a responsibility when you are at Man Utd to play a certain way and play with pace and power," the boss added. “You’ve got to attack quickly and you’ve got to have some youth players in there.
“You’ve got to have courage and risk things, so sometimes we do leave ourselves open at the back but that’s also an instinct I learnt from my time here at the club with Sir Alex. You have to give players the freedom to express themselves, but you’ve also got to work hard, and that’s improving.
“If it’s my team…well, we are working towards something and trying to get better and better and improve all the time."
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Source : 90min