Manchester United are inviting 227 of their former players back to the club in a new initiative.
227 former players who have left Old Trafford over the past 11 years have returned to the club in a pioneering new scheme.
Man United‘s alumni programme allows academy graduates back into the fold to help some of them navigate the disappointment of not making the grade at the club.
The campaign will launch early next year and is designed to improve the support available to academy graduates who have left Man United.
Old Trafford officials have spent the past 18 months developing the programme which will give formal access to support, help and advice.
Academy director Nick Cox has fine-tuned a strategy to ensure the project meets the needs and demands of those academy graduates.
Cox told The Telegraph: “We see it as our duty to care and support the boys long after they have left us. They make a big commitment as young players to be part of our programme. We think that commitment deserves an ongoing commitment from us.
“We are constantly refining what we do, why we do it and if we could do it better. We felt there was a need to formalise some of that aftercare and support.
“The risk of an informal approach is that you end up connecting with young boys who you know, are prominent in your minds and are desperate to come back. But you might miss a young person who really needs your support.
“If we can let the network interact with itself, there is an enormous amount of support that can be generated across that cohort. Our programme has to be somewhere that is vibrant, creative, experimental.”
Man United are set to hold four events a year and hope by creating this programme that former academy graduates can engage with each other and improve the quality of ‘aftercare’ provision.
Manchester United supporters will be left very concerned after every Premier League team was ranked in order of how many injuries they have sustained so far this season.
Erik ten Hag has contributed to the Red Devils worst start to a new campaign in the last 61 years, but the Dutchman has not been helped by a number of significant injury blows to his squad.
First team stars Casemiro, Rasmus Hojlund, Christian Eriksen, Jonny Evans, Andre Onana, Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are all currently sidelined, with Ten Hag left scrambling for alternatives.
A report from the BBC has since documented the total number of injuries wach club have been dealt in the top-flight and it does not make good reading for the Old Trafford outfit.
A total of 14 United players have picked up injuries so far this season, the joint-most alongside Newcastle United – a fact Magpies’ defender Kieran Trippier alluded to during a heated altercation with fans recently.
Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest have all been dealt a total of 13 injuries.
Meanwhile, league leaders Manchester City have suffered just seven injuries, exactly half of their cross-city rivals. You can see the full list below.
Arsenal (9), Aston Villa (10), Bournemouth (7), Brentford (11), Brighton (10), Burnley (9), Chelsea (12), Crystal Palace (13), Everton (7), Fulham (10), Liverpool (9), Luton Town (8), Manchester City (7), Manchester United (14), Newcastle United (14), Nottingham Forest (13), Sheffield United (13), Tottenham (9), West Ham (5), Wolves (6)
The situation has reached such desperation at United that the club reportedly launched an investigation into why Ten Hag had so many players absent with knocks last month.
According to the Daily Mail, United’s medical department are “actively seeking to identify whether any patterns exist”.
Speaking ahead of United’s 4-3 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League in September, Ten Hag claimed that his players were picking up injuries because they were “living on the edge”.
“One thing is true, from the start of last season I almost never started with the best starting XI, it was always something like an injury,” he told reporters.
“But you have to deal with it and we always get the results, apart from the period we are in now. It’s a concern but that’s why we constructed the squad with depth, so we can deal with it. The squad can deal with it.
“Injuries always come in top football because we’re living on the edge and injuries are coming up. We analyse why things happen but we also have to deal with the facts and it’s always about the players available. We have a strong side and we have to get the best out of it.”
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