Manchester United great and newly appointed academy head Nicky Butt has revealed that he is not daunted by the state of the club’s youth facilities.
The former midfielder has insisted that even though he admires the celebrated academy of the Red Devils’ neighbours and rivals Manchester City, he can offer youth prospects something that the Sky Blues never can.
“We can offer them the chance to play for Manchester United’s first team,” Butt began, speaking at the launch of Manchester United’s global partnership with Gulf Oil International, as reported by the Mirror. “That’s the best thing we can do.
“I’m not here to slag any other clubs off. They’ve got their own way of doing it and good luck to them,” he continued.
“But Sir Alex did it with me and now it’s my job to look into their eyes and say ‘we will give you a pathway to play for Manchester United’s first team.”
Butt did concede that United have fallen behind City in terms of the facilities on offer, but refused to criticise his own club’s set up in the process.
“People say it’s a mess from the outside because we fell behind City because of their training complex. Yes, they have a fantastic training complex, you can’t get away from that and it is amazing,” the Champions League winner concluded.
“But ours isn’t too shabby is it? It’s not the a**e end of the world really. It’s a great place.”
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Partly through necessity, and partly due to their own qualities, Louis van Gaal has turned to various United youth products through the season, lending weight to Butt’s promise that he can offer youngsters a route to the club’s first team.
The likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Guillermo Varela, Donald Love, Tim Fosu-Mensah, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Paddy McNair have all seen Premier League action for the troubled Red Devils, although critics may suggest that their introduction has been both a ploy by LVG to keep fans onside and an attempt to cover up his own inadequate transfer dealings.