Why a 35-year-old who last played for Doncaster Rovers has joined Manchester United

As one source said recently, sometimes you need a player on the pitch to give academy players "a good f****** talking to' because football is a brutally competitive environment.

The noise at Premier League grounds drowns out what the players are saying, but anyone who follows football down the English pyramid will know what an unforgiving place football can be because in-game conversations are often audible.

Nobody wants to be on the losing side - it's kill or be killed. That is the reality of senior football and it helps explain why Premier League clubs are opening their doors for players in the winter of their careers to take on hybrid academy player-coach roles.

Brighton were the first top-flight club to create the role and Dan Ashworth, who is now the sporting director at Old Trafford, was one of the pioneers behind the decision.

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The Seagulls appointed Andrew Crofts in a player-coach role for their Under-21 team in 2019. He was 35 when he joined and arrived having made 125 appearances for Brighton as a player, which made him the perfect fit for what the south coast club needed.

"This is an innovative step, and we are delighted to have Andrew on board. Firstly as a coach and he will become part of our U21 coaching team," Ashworth said at the time. "Secondly, the thinking behind the playing role is to have someone of his experience out there on the pitch alongside our younger players, and to impart that crucial knowledge he has gained from his time in the game.”

The reason why player-coach academy roles have merit is bringing in someone who is on the cusp of leaving the