Manchester United’s youth academy chief Derek Langley, who has been at Old Trafford for 16 years, is reportedly planning to leave the club at the end of the season.
The once famed Manchester United academy appears to be in shambles as the academy chief has announced his decision to leave at the end of the season. Langley is reportedly disappointed with the restrictions on youth player recruitment and frustrated that rival club Manchester City are managing to attract most of the promising youngsters in the city to their academy.
According to The Times, “Manchester United are facing more turmoil among their backroom staff with the impending departure of the club’s academy chief. The Times has learnt that Derek Langley, United’s head of youth player recruitment, is planning to leave the club at the end of the season because of disillusionment about the state of the academy.”
No more classes after 1992
The Manchester United academy’s prestigious class of ’92, which included the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Phil Neville set a standard that will probably never be exceeded. But since then, very few players of note have emerged from the academy.
The present team boasts of the likes of Jese Lingard and Paddy Mc’Nair, but young talents like Paul Pogba have been allowed to slip away thanks to the recruiting policy at the club which no longer focuses on giving young players a shot and would rather buy big name players from other clubs. This is a disturbing development in one of the most respected and historic academies in English football.
