FC Barcelona record-holder to join Manchester United for free

Manchester United are bound for an exciting arrival.

As they say, if you want to build a foundation, you need to build a solid base first. Building a successful youth academy also relates to the saying.

It was Sir Matt Busby who first helped Manchester United build the base of one of the most illustrious academies in England. It can be said that he was the pioneer of all the youth-related achievements the club has had enjoyed lately.

There is no way to overlook his majestic era with “Busby Babes” — which left his rivals stunned and forced them to build their youth systems more maturely — and the feats that have had followed since then.

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Following the retirement of Matt Busby, Manchester United’s youth system started struggling without a proper leader. Then, Old Trafford devotees saw the rise of Sir Alex Ferguson — the winner of 13 Premier League titles with the Red Devils and probably the greatest manager the club has ever had — who straight away took the charge of the sceptre and build another youth-based team, widely known as “The Class of ’92”.

Alex Ferguson, with his baby-faced assassins, went on to win a plethora trophies — among which the treble of 1999 is the dessert any other English team is yet to taste. Since the departure of Ferguson, the youth development process was seemingly dealing with the aftermath — a steady decline was visible then.

Academy graduates, who were getting the promotion to the first team, were not getting proper chances to prove themselves. Hence, some talented prodigies decided to leave United — United’s highly-touted winger Adnan Januzaj was one amongst them.

However, with the new manager in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at the helm, the scenario has drastically changed over the last two years. Youth talented players have got some minutes under their belts.

Some like Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams have transformed into the regular members of the first-team squad and are challenging senior pros nowadays for the devoted starting place. With the likes of Hannibal Mejbri and Dillion Hoogerwerf knocking at the door for the first-team football, the future certainly looks bright for the Mancunian club.

To add some more flesh to the academy, FC Barcelona’s highly-praised youngster Marc Jurado,16, is set to join Manchester United for free this summer as the young prodigy has already made his way out of Barça’s reputed La Masia academy, rejecting their latest offer to try his luck in the Premier League.

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Spanish sports journalist Albert Rogé via Sportwitness has clarified that he right-back will ‘play next season at Manchester United’. In 2010, Jurado, while playing as a right-back for Barcelona’s U10s side, scored an outstanding opener with five seconds into the game — which still remains La Masia’s fastest goal of all time.

It is expected that he will replace Ethan Laird, who is close to securing his first-team promotion, in United’s U18 side at the right-back position. Though, Manchester United have not officially revealed any information regarding the deal yet.

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