Tuesday, 30th September, 2014
Wayne Rooney believes the chances given to Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair at Manchester United this season prove manager Louis van Gaal's commitment to youth.
Questions were raised over whether the Red Devils are abandoning their preference for homegrown talents after youth products Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Tom Lawrence were all offloaded in the summer.
Rooney is confident that Manchester United will continue to promote from within however and has pointed to Blackett, given a chance by Van Gaal in defence, and McNair, who made his debut in the backline in Saturday's 2-1 win over West Ham.
"Although we let Tom Cleverley go on loan and Danny Welbeck go to Arsenal, we have brought in a young Manchester lad in Tyler Blackett who played every game until Saturday", Rooney said via his club's site.
"The situation was forced on the manager [because of injuries] but he has brought Paddy in and it's shown he isn’t afraid to throw young players in", he added.
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All eyes are now on Van Gaal and his approach for Manchester United's next game, a home clash against Everton on Sunday.
Van Gaal has seen his preparations for games consistently interrupted by injuries to key players over the course of the season so far.
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