Manchester United academy players are getting the best preparation for first-team promotions

It doesn't matter what the circumstances are, Manchester United's task at the start of every single season is to end it with at least one piece of silverware. They haven't achieved that since a triumph in the Europa League five years ago.

United's season used to be declared a success solely on whether or not they had won the Premier League title, and even sometimes it felt like an underachievement if they were only able to win that.

In recent years, those standards have slipped. Erik ten Hag will be desperate to win his first trophy at the club this season, but ultimately, his debut campaign will be judged on whether or not he can guide United back into the Champions League.

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Oddly enough, there is one competition United could win with relative ease if they wanted to this season, though that doesn't mean they have any interest in doing so.

Eyebrows were raised on Tuesday night when Liverpool took to EFL Trophy action against Rochdale, using the clash with their League Two opposition as an opportunity to get more minutes under the belt of summer signing Arthur Melo.

The player, capped 22 times by Brazil, was then replaced by 33-year-old midfielder Jay Spearing, who is also a coach in the Liverpool academy set-up. They still lost the match, but it hardly felt like it was in the spirit of the competition.

It is now six years since the EFL changed the format of the competition, inviting 16 teams from clubs with Category One academies to participate in the 64-club competition, giving Premier League and Championship clubs a chance to give meaningful match experience to their bright young hopefuls.

The competition has been heavily criticised since those changes, with