Manchester United have generally been exceptional over the last 30 years in blooding youngsters into the first-team setup, but there have been exceptions where the club have made a mistake in letting a young player go.

Sometimes there was nothing the Red Devils could do with the player looking for first-team football and leaving at the end of their contract.

Even so, if they had seen the talent much earlier on and given them more opportunities in the senior side, they could have kept hold of some excellent players for much longer.

Press the next page as we go through five Manchester United academy players that got away.