Sunday’s game against Everton at Old Trafford is due to be the 4,000th in a row in which the Red Devils have included at least one academy graduate
Paul Pogba says Manchester United’s young players must make the most of their chances in the first team as they are playing for “maybe the biggest club in history”.
Sunday’s Premier League game against Everton at Old Trafford is due to be the 4,000th in a row in which the Red Devils have included at least one academy graduate in the matchday squad.
That run, which stretches back to 1937, has been kept alive by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s commitment to promoting youngsters into the first team this season.
Thursday’s 4-0 Europa League defeat of AZ saw nine players with United academy backgrounds included in the squad.
Pogba, who joined United as a 16-year-old, is now encouraging the youngsters at Solskjaer’s disposal not to take their opportunities to impress for granted.
“I’ve said to a lot of the young players who have been with the first team: ‘Guys, you don’t know how lucky you are.’ Unfortunately for us, we’ve had a lot of injured players and it’s therefore a big chance for the young players to be involved with the first team,” Pogba, sidelined with an ankle injury since September, told United’s website.
“They have the chance to do well and stay there. So, I said to them: ‘Take this luck and take this opportunity because it’s important until the other players come back fit.’ You never know, there could be an injured player and a young player comes in and plays a great game and they stay with the first team until the end of their career.
