With legendary trio Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville edging closer to retirement, Jason McPherson takes a look at the history of the club's youth system, and the comparison of past youngsters to the current crop of emerging talent. The picture doesn't look to bleak after all... 

  Report By: Jason McPherson, 11:15pm

From 'The Busby Babes' to 'Fergie's Fledglings', Manchester United always seems to have a knack for nurturing young talent and the confidence to give them the opportunity on the biggest of stages (just think back to Kiko Macheda's goal against Aston Villa in 2009).That’s what the club has always prided itself on in its long and illustrious history... 

In one of the all time greatest tragedies in sports history, when the Sir Matt Busby lead outfit met in a tragic plane crash known as the Munich Air Disaster, almost the entire team was made up of players that came through the youth system. In the 2 previous seasons, United won the league titles in 1955/1956 and 1956/57 the team’s average ages were 21 and 22 respectively. In a time where clubs believed more in buying established footballers (Manchester City quickly comes to mind) rather than nurturing home grown talents, Manchester United stood out amongst all others showing always the confidence and trust in youth football.

More than a half-century later, the club still prides itself on youth football, with a plethora of young players getting their chance to show their worth this pre-season. It remains to be seen how many of these players will go on to make the first team, but one thing’s for sure where ever they play in the future, they would have brought first class work ethic and immeasurable talent to the lucky team with which they sign.

It's hard to think that a player like Fedrico Macheda is still only 19 years old, with Sir Alex already regarding him as 'possibly the best striker at the club in terms of 1 on 1 situations against the goalkeeper'. Such are the expectations at the club that no matter the age of the player, they're never too young to be thrown in to the deep, with a league title sometimes proving to be elusive.

With the last remaining trio of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville from the infamous 'Fergie's Fledglings' all on the brink of retirement, the next generation of young superstars are finally ready to be unearthed from our youth system. With the likes of Gabriel Obertan, Bébé, Tom Cleverly, Danny Welbeck, Paul Pogba, Magnus Eikrem, Chris Smalling, Ravel Morrison and Robert Brady to name a few all chomping at the bit, I can confidently and safely say that Manchester United’s future is very bright, no matter what the media say...