Historically Manchester United have always developed young players, often buying them young or bringing them to the club as youngsters then promoting them through the ranks to the youth team, then the reserves and finally the first team. Although it is hard to find similarities in the playing styles of United under Sir Alex Ferguson and then United under Louis Van Gaal, there is one area which the managers do certainly have common ground – they both are keen on giving youth a chance by blooding promising young prospects in a first team full of established stars.

Sir Alex Ferguson famously brought through the Class of ’92 featuring the likes of Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs amongst others who were part of the 1992 FA Youth Cup and went on to help United win numerous honours including the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup proper. While not in the 1992 Youth side Paul Scholes and Phil Neville are generally considered part of this group as well as they debutted at roughly the same time. Wayne Rooney of course was bought by Sir Alex as an 18 year old from Everton for £25.6million and has developed to his full potential in a United shirt.

While Louis Van Gaal may not have such an excellent group all coming through the ranks at the same time he is doing his best to unearth the gems that are sure to be in the United Academy and reserve team. Last season, the Dutch manager gave significant playing time to Tyler Blackett, Paddy McNair, Adnan Januzaj and James Wilson who all repaid their manager’s faith by delivering solid performances when they played plus the team’s form did not suffer when they appeared for United.

This season, Van Gaal has given a number of games to Jesse Lingard who has responded by bringing some real quality to the Reds line-up with his ability to beat a man, his crosses plus he has a goal in him as shown on the weekend against West Brom where he scored a screamer from outside the box. The manager also gave 18 year old defender Cameron Borthwick-Jackson his Manchester United first team debut vs West Brom and while the young defender was only on the pitch for about 15 minutes he looked like he has all the tools to do well for the club.

The other young player who the Dutchman has used this year is French sensation Anthony Martial. Coming to the club from Monaco as a relative unknown to many, the striker was signed by LVG for £58.8million which the manager himself described as “ridiculous”, and evidence of the “crazy world we are in” as the Guardian reported. Martial has not been weighed down by expectations and the colossal transfer fee however, indeed quite the opposite as he has proved to be a shrewd signing having acclimatised quickly to the Premier League as the manager has given him the game-time he deserves. The player has rewarded his boss with 5 goals already in a number of eye-catching displays.

So while United may not be playing the same kind of attractive attacking football as in the SAF era yet, they are a team on the rise with some real high quality youngsters in their ranks who look like they could be part of the next trophy winning side for many years to come. There really is nothing like the enthusiasm and drive of hungry young players so lets hope the fountain of youth continues to deliver for United.