The hits and misses of the Manchester United youth production factory

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The Manchester United youth system is in full affect at the moment with Marcus Rashford the latest to roll of the production line. He follows 13 others all given their debut by manager Louis Van Gaal since the Dutchman took charge in 2014. So here are a few of the stand out players to come out of the factory on the red side of Manchester in recent years.

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Gerard Pique

That’s right your eyes aren’t deceiving you World Cup winner and Barcelona great Gerard Pique came through the Man United youth system. The Spaniard was picked up by United scouts from his eventual destination Barcelona at a young age and made his debut for the club in October 2004. He went on to win a champions League and Premier League medal at Old Trafford before moving back to Spain.

So how did Sir Alex Ferguson let a soon to be world class centre back leave for under £5 million? Well the answer is an ironic one, it was because Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were beginning to form one of the best partnerships the Premier League had ever seen and because of that game time was hard to come by for Pique despite being relatively happy at the club. However, as soon as he left Vidic and Ferdinand began to pick up the injuries that went on to plague their careers. I wonder what would have happened if he had stayed?