The Five Manchester United Academy Graduates That Became Stars At Other Clubs

Content Editor

4 years ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester United News

Tags: Burnley, Chelsea, Danny Drinkwater, Everton, Gerard Pique, Juventus, Leicester, Manchester United, Michael Keane, Paul Pogba, Ryan Shawcross, Stoke City

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.

Gerard Pique

The Spanish legend came through both the Barcelona and United academies but he made his senior debut for the Red Devils back in 2004. He only made 23 appearances before he was sold to Barcelona for just £5m in 2008.

Since moving back to Spain, he has won eight La Liga titles, six Spanish Cups, six Spanish Super Cups and four Champions League titles.

Paul Pogba

The Frenchman may have returned to Manchester United but it cost them £89m after he originally left for Juventus in 2012. He turned down a new contract at Old Trafford and then spent four years with the Serie A giants.

During his time in Italy, he won four Italian League titles as well as two Coppa Italias, scoring 34 goals in 178 appearances for Juve.

Michael Keane

The centre-back was born in the local area and progressed through the academy system at Carrington until he made his first-team debut in 2011. However, he only made two appearances for the club and he spent two years out on loan at clubs like Leicester, Derby and Blackburn.

Keane was eventually sold to Burnley in January 2015 after a six-month loan at Turf Moor. The defender helped the Clarets gain promotion during his second season at the club, and after another campaign in the top flight, he made the £25m switch to Everton in 2017. He is now in his fourth season at Goodison Park, having also won ten England caps.

Ryan Shawcross

The centre-half made only two League Cup appearances for United before he was offloaded to Stoke City on a permanent basis in 2008. He is still at the Bet365 Stadium 12 years later, having racked up over 450 appearances for the Potters.

Shawcross has been captain of Stoke since being handed the armband ahead of the 2010/11 season. He spent ten years playing in the top flight before his team were relegated in 2018.

Danny Drinkwater

Although his recent history has been checkered, to say the least, Drinkwater made a name for himself at Leicester after leaving Manchester United in 2012.

During his time at the Foxes, he won promotion to the Premier League in 2014 before winning the league title in 2016. His performances led to a £35m move to Chelsea, which resulted in his career nosediving.