12 FA Youth Cup winners to make it since 2010: Pogba, Mount, Abraham…

The FA Youth Cup is one of English football’s proudest traditions, and year after year some of the most promising young prospects in the country light up the competition. 

Manchester United take on Nottingham Forest in the 2022 final and if previous years are anything to go by, the occasion will give us a glimpse of some of the stars of the future.

Here’s one player from each of the last 12 winners, highlighting some of the young prospects that have since gone on to enjoy excellent senior careers.

Chelsea’s first FA Youth Cup victory since 1961 began an era of domination in the competition, in which they made it to nine of 11 finals, winning seven.

Back in the era of two-legged finals, they drew 1-1 away to Aston Villa before coming from behind to win 2-1 at home in the second leg.

More than a few members of that young Blues side went on to make a living around Europe, the Football League and non-league, but not many made it to an elite level. At the time, 17-year-old Josh McEachran was the most hyped. He made 22 appearances for Chelsea’s first team but never quite reached the heights expected and is now turning out for MK Dons in League One.

Twelve years on, the pick of the bunch is probably Bruma. The centre-back has been capped 25 times by the Netherlands and won two Eredivisie titles with PSV. Nowadays he’s turning out for Kasımpasa in the Turkish Super Lig.

Cast your mind back 10 years ago, and there were two youngsters from Manchester United’s 2011 Youth Cup-winning side that were on equal footing in terms of their reputation as the next big thing.

Speak to anyone involved behind the scenes at United at the time, and they’ll tell you Ravel Morrison was one of the most astonishingly talented young footballers