![\"Jacob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/00237bd3-614.jpg\"\/)
\nJacob Devaney in action for Ireland Under-21s<\/p>\n
Manchester United’s next generation are taking inspiration from Michael Carrick\u2019s commitment to the club\u2019s academy, young midfielder Jacob Devaney has said.<\/p>\n
While his predecessor Ruben Amorim was often criticised for his approach to United\u2019s youth set-up, Carrick has been a regular presence at academy fixtures and has spoken about building deeper connections across the different age groups at Carrington.<\/p>\n
In Saturday\u2019s pre-season friendly against Wrexham in Helsinki, Carrick made 11 changes at half-time and fielded a side for the second half made up entirely of players who have represented the club\u2019s academy.<\/p>\n
Devaney was among them, dropping back from his preferred midfield role to play alongside Dan Armer in the centre of defence, and the 19-year-old said he and his team-mates value the manager\u2019s interest in their development.<\/p>\n
“(It\u2019s) really important,” Devaney said. “We speak about it as a group. It\u2019s great to have Michael there at the games. We were in training a week before the first team and I think he was out at every session with the staff.<\/p>\n
“So it\u2019s nice that he takes knowledge of what you\u2019re doing and he\u2019s obviously not afraid to throw the youth in. He\u2019s shown that last year. It\u2019s positive to have someone like him in the building.”<\/p>\n
\nJacob Devaney in action for Ireland Under-21s<\/p>\n
Devaney has no shortage of belief in himself, as shown by the way he approached the challenge of facing Wrexham\u2019s experienced forward Kieffer Moore.<\/p>\n
“I thought me and Dan dealt with him well,” he said. “It goes without saying he\u2019s a big physical threat. He\u2019s had a good career. But I thought we dealt with him well as a pair, and it\u2019s nice to test yourself against someone like him in games like this.<\/p>\n
“Wherever I\u2019m put on the pitch, I played multiple positions in the last year, two years, and no matter who I\u2019m up against, whether it\u2019s the lads in training or lads like Kieffer Moore, I\u2019ll apply myself and I\u2019ll give 100 per cent, and I\u2019ll always back myself to come out on top as well.”<\/p>\n
The Barnsley-born Republic of Ireland Under-21 international spent half of last season on loan at St Mirren, making 18 appearances and helping the club avoid relegation from the Scottish Premiership with a play-off win over Partick Thistle.<\/p>\n
Devaney is ready to leave on loan again if the right opportunity comes up.<\/p>\n
“Obviously I want to play first-team football, whether that be at Manchester United for the next year or not,” he said. “The main aim and goal for me is to play for Manchester United week in, week out.<\/p>\n
“So whether I have to go on loan again and gain more valuable experience like I did at St Mirren, or whether that be in the building, learning from the best which is here at Manchester United, we\u2019ll see what happens.”<\/p>\n
Listen to the RT\u00c9 Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United’s next generation are taking inspiration from Michael Carrick\u2019s commitment to the club\u2019s academy, young midfielder Jacob…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-560738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}