Travis Binnion’s Under-18s have twice been in action this week and discovered their FA Youth Cup final opponents on Monday night as Nottingham Forest and Chelsea faced off for a place in the Old Trafford fixture. The U16s will face Manchester City after beating Sunderland – the scorers being Ethan Wheatley and Ruben Curley, who have both made U18s debuts this season – while the U15s are in a final of their own, too.
As often made clear by Academy coaches, individual player development is always prioritised over short-term match results. However, this season's cup success across various age groups is both a happy byproduct of good development work, but also creates unique opportunities of playing under pressure with something at stake.