Sir Jim Ratcliffe has criticised Manchester United\u2019s academy and says he wants youth production at Carrington to help improve finances at the club.<\/p>\n
The United co-owner is leading an overhaul of the club in a bid to restore United as a leading force in football. Ratcliffe\u2019s INEOS holds a minority 28.94 per cent stake in the club after investing in 2024 and oversee football operations despite the Glazer family still remaining majority owners.<\/p>\n
United have a great history of producing young talent and they have had an academy product in every first-team matchday squad since 1937. But that has not stopped Ratcliffe, 72, from calling for improvement of the youth set-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing that we haven\u2019t even begun to start with is the academy, which is fundamentally important in football,\u201d Ratcliffe told The Times\u2019 The Business Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe academy has really slipped at Manchester United. But you need the academy to be producing talent all the time. It helps you financially. And you have to have a certain number of British players in your squad.\u201d<\/p>\n United\u2019s Carrington training base was redeveloped at a cost of \u00a350million while they are planning further changes to improve academy facilities, as revealed by The Athletic earlier this week<\/a>, but this may take many years.<\/p>\n Despite improvements to the men\u2019s first-team facilities, the under-21s and under-18s are to be housed in temporary cabins in the players\u2019 car park as no plans were made for their inclusion in the revamped complex.<\/p>\n United do fall behind rivals Manchester City and Liverpool, who often sell academy players with little or no first-team football for significant sums, in terms of generating income from their youth squads.<\/p>\n Last season, United were second in the Premier League for minutes given to teenagers.<\/p>\n