Former Manchester United player completes Old Trafford return

Manchester United have always been known for bringing through players from their academy into the first-team. But perhaps naturally, there are a number of talented players who never manage to make that jump and breakthrough into the senior level at Old Trafford.

Paul McShane is one of those players. He came through the youth ranks but never managed to make his full debut for the Red Devils. He did go on to have a solid career in English football though, representing the likes of Sunderland, Hull City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Reading, West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and many others.

Thus, McShane enjoyed an extensive career in the Championship and the Premier League, and has even made 33 appearances for the Republic of Ireland national team according to stats from Transfermarkt.

As reported by Manchester United’s official website, McShane is set to have a playing coach role in the Academy. The defender will work as a coach across the Under-15s to Under-23s teams. He will solely represent the Under-23s side as one of three permitted over-age outfield players in Premier League 2.

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McShane returns to Manchester United in a playing coach role

This is certainly a very innovative appointment on the part of the club and it will be very interesting to see how McShane does in a playing coach role in the Academy.

There are certainly many talented players in the club’s youth ranks right now who could be first-team stars at Old Trafford for years to come. Hopefully, this move will help in their development as they will learn from a player with a lot of experience at both club and international level.

The Red Devils have had quite a reputation in recent years of signing some of the most highly-rated youngsters from around the world and putting them in the club’s Academy, hoping to turn them into Premier League quality players. And there are already a number of exciting young players, who are part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s senior team picture.