13 Jun 2025 06:36:56
The other day i saw that Munro, a youth centre half who impressed the one time I saw him, had signed his first pro deal. Add to that yesterday, United signed Harley Emsden-James, 16, from Southamptons academy.
We will pay Southampton a £1million compensation fee with a 20 per cent sell-on clause.
Emsden-James is a centre-back said to have physical skills with technical ability on the ball, he could potentially develop into an all-round centre-back with leadership skills.
13 Jun 2025 07:56:31
Great to see us building from within. Personally think quite a few from the youth setup will get opportunity this season.
13 Jun 2025 09:20:19
Despite all the rubbish that has been going on at the club at senior football level, we certainly seem to be doing well in the youth area. If we can get one youth player regularly in the squad each year and give out a few debuts, we are doing well as a club and I do think it's important to keep the tradition and record of over 4000 games with a youth product in the first team match squad. Sadly they won't all make it at United, but if we can help them get good solid careers in the game then the academy is doing it's job.
I'd be delighted if in 5 years time we had a starting 11 with Heaven, Kukonki, and Emsden-James as defensive options alongside Yoro in the squad, Mantato, Lacey, Ibragimov, Martins in the squad too. Unheard of now but that would be brilliant.