Manchester United coach Michael Carrick has insisted that academy stars who have got their opportunities under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will need to keep relentlessly pushing in order to make a career at Old Trafford.
Solskjaer has not shied away from throwing players from the academy into the heat of battle for Manchester United this season and they have been a regular part of his first-team squads.
The Manchester United boss threw in Dutch winger Tahith Chong, 19, and forward Mason Greenwood, 17, when his side were chasing a goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League earlier this month.
Greenwood also came on against Arsenal and Carrick admits that there is a real buzz and excitement around the youngsters in the academy and they are giving hope to others that they will also get their opportunities.
But the Manchester United coach warned that the club are a relentless machine and they will have to continue to push and improve in order to make it at Old Trafford.
“Mason normally has college on a Thursday!” Carrick told the Times.
“It’s great there’s a cluster of them. The ones behind them think, ‘That could be me.’ The coaches of the [under-13s, 12s, 9s] are thinking, ‘I remember Jimmy when he was here, Mason when he was here.’
“There’s that buzz about them.
“I was getting texts after the game about, ‘Great to see the kids getting on’. It’s incredible. They don’t seem scared.
“The lads have done well, getting minutes on the pitch, but they have to keep stepping up, pushing on and not settling for where they are.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are, you have to keep pushing on. Relentless.”
