Given their history of bringing through top young players, there is always an added pressure on Man Utd to keep that conveyor belt of quality going.
Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard have been more recent examples of the youth academy paying dividends given their impact for the senior side, but now Man Utd stalwart Michael Carrick has picked out Scott McTominay has being the next big star.
The 21-year-old has made his breakthrough under Jose Mourinho this season, making 17 appearances in all competitions and proving that he can certainly make the step up and be part of the club’s future.
With Carrick set to retire at the end of the season, he’s evidently keeping his eye on the next wave of young talent at Old Trafford, and he’s tipping for McTominay for a big future at Man Utd while also insisting that he will be around to help him improve in the coming months and adapt to being a key figure for the Red Devils.
“He goes about his business, he comes in, he is always in doing extra training, he’s desperate to do well and he’s always looking for those little things to improve on,” Carrick told The Telegraph.
“He’s a shining example to kids looking up to how you can be within yourself and how you are coping, your body language.
“He is fantastic, Scott, he is the next one and we keep producing them as a club and that is incredible, in this day and age, when there is so much scrutiny and money and people are clamouring to sign this player and that player.
“He is a great lad, he is a humble lad, he takes everything in which gives him a great chance of improving all the time and he has done that. It’s early days, he has a long way to go to get to the other end of the scale where I am but I will try to help him as much as I can. I will give him bits of advice but credit to him, he has done great so far.”