Butt: Impossible to keep one Man Utd child ‘under the radar’

Head of first team development Nicky Butt claims he would prefer Manchester United’s youth stars to fly “under the radar” but admits that is not always possible with the exorbitant transfer fees now paid for academy additions.

Ed Woodward underlined the academy’s importance to investors this week, highlighting the young talent that has been brought in unnoticed.

The exception being Hannibal Mejbri, signed from Monaco aged 16 in the summer for a fee that could reach 10 million euros (£9.3million).

Butt said of the Frenchman: “It’s hard to get him under the radar when we’ve chased him for so long and he’s come from a big club for a big fee, so that’s impossible.”

“But you want to get young people under the radar because, coming from a different country and getting the price tag in your head and coming to one of the biggest clubs in the world, there’s going to be so much pressure in the first place.

“I’ve got a 16-year-old kid who, I would hate that pressure on their shoulders, but they have that and it’d be foolish to put them out there too soon, because you don’t know what’s around the corner. They’re children.

“There is a long road to the first team and big bumps and some are going to do what Mason (Greenwood) or Marcus (Rashford) have done, some might go the Jesse (Lingard) way – going on loan five or six times and getting there.

“We’ve got some really good players that I believe will play for Man United. When, I don’t know. But they will play for Man United and, yeah, some of them have been brought through the ranks from seven, eight, nine or 10.”

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