Kobbie Mainoo could give Manchester United the same thing as Lisandro Martinez

Football evolves quicker than any other sport and Manchester United enthusiasts will have gauged that from contrasting the midfield triumvirates of their last two triumphant FA Youth Cup sides.

Ravel Morrison, the conductor of the Class of 2011, was a maverick while Paul Pogba and Ryan Tunnicliffe were two steely box-to-box midfielders. Eleven years later, Kobbie Mainoo, Dan Gore and the cherub Sam Mather were pocket dynamos whose passing patterns could have been mistaken for teenage midfielders from Barcelona or Ajax.

Fifteen years ago, Barcelona emerged as one of the great football teams in living memory and signalled a shift in how clubs built midfielders. There was a fastidious emphasis on ball retention and a midfielder did not have to possess an imposing physique to unnerve opponents.

Teenage hopefuls have been written off in England, in particular, due to their height or frame since time immemorial. Now England have caught up and possess an embarrassment of riches in the middle third.

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Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice are two £100million+ midfielders and Trent Alexander-Arnold, similarly valued, stepped forward to great effect in England's last two internationals. Mason Mount and Kalvin Phillips started in the European Championship final two years ago.

Zidane Iqbal was two years above Mainoo, Gore and Mather at United and studied Frenkie de Jong, which ought to stand him in good stead in the Eredivisie. In Mount, Erik ten Hag has recruited a creative midfielder who was likened to De Jong during his work experience year in the Eredivisie in 2017-18.

"I'm sure he will bring dynamic into our game and that's one of our analytical conclusions after last