Was 2023 a successful year for Manchester United? If you were at Old Trafford on Saturday, you would find it hard to argue otherwise.
For the second year in a row, the club celebrated their illustrious academy program with an annual event that gave young hopefuls recognition of what they had achieved as well as further motivation to fuel their dreams of perhaps making it one day.
It was a year that saw Marcus Rashford score a Carabao Cup winner at Wembley, Scott McTominay captain the first-team and Alejandro Garnacho score 'that goal' against Everton.
Nine academy graduates represented the first-team squad; three of them made their debuts and United continued their remarkable record of having a homegrown player in every senior squad since Saturday 30 October 1937. FEATURE: I was told to snub United and sign for Tottenham - I shouldn't have listened OPINION: Sancho has contradicted himself with comments on Ronaldo and United There's a lot more to the academy system than just those who go on to make an appearance for the first team, though that is ultimately the standard by which they are externally ranked.