Pogba and Rashford start: How Man Utd could have lined up if they didn’t sell academy stars - gallery

Manchester United, perhaps more so than anyone else in the Premier League era, are a club renowned for producing young talent.The Red Devils have had at least one member from their academy in every first-team matchday squad since 1937, that’s a run of well over 4,300 matches, with 44 major trophies accumulated in the process, including three Champions League honours.

Names such as Bobby Charlton, George Best, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and David Beckham among others are all synonymous with the club’s history while more recent examples such as Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba have also made their mark since coming through the ranks in the post Sir Alex Ferguson era.

However, as it stands the club are in danger of potentially losing that long-running record this season. Kobbie Mainoo, who faces an uncertain future at Old Trafford, has often been one of the only names from the academy in this season’s matchday squads while there’s not a great deal of other names currently in contention for selection at this time.

But it’s not necessarily a case of United not producing the players, and is perhaps more a damning indictment on the team’s transfer policy and their habit of letting go of good talent too soon. With that in mind, we take a look at how United could line-up if they only used players from their academy.