Manchester United are through to the Youth Cup quarter-final following a 5-1 victory over Swansea. Gyliano van Velzen scored twice and the other goals came from Jack Barmby, Sam Byrne and Tyler Blackett. Barmby and Blackett particularly shone.

United will now play against the winners of the Charlton and Tottenham tie on a fortnight.

"He has a good attitude, although he should have, he's a young player with an opportunity at Manchester United," said Ferguson. "That's one of the reasons you pick these players, because they show their temperament as they come through the youth programmes and the reserves. I am always confident about their temperament, their attitude to the game and their enthusiasm to play.

Renowned for never doing things the easy way, Manchester United's U18′s had to produce a performance of quality and strength to overcome a Derby County side boasting England U17 internationals, in-form strikers and a notable physical advantage not to mention the early initiative with an opening goal on 20 minutes.

After reports emerged than Manchester United had turned down a £1m bid for Ravel Morrison, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that the youngster's agent was trying to find the player a new club.

"His demands are unrealistic as far as we're concerned," the manager said.

One of Morrison's friends showed him a picture on Twitter of the player in a United shirt, but with "CASH" photoshopped across the front.

Sir Alex Ferguson has today confirmed the rumours that Newcastle have had a bid rejected for Ravel Morrison.

The player who has been long tipped to be the most talented player to come through our youth team since the likes of David Beckham and Paul Scholes looks set to leave Manchester United.

The Sun reported earlier today that Ravel Morrison's contract talks with Manchester United had broken down.

Speaking on Twitter, Morrison has claimed that there is no contract offer for him to talk about. Is that because he's signed a deal? Is it because he's rejected the latest offer and there isn't another deal on the table?

Liverpool are said to be monitoring Sporting Lisbon's Joao Teixeria and will hope a deal can be struck this transfer window to bring him to Anfield.

The young midfielder will turn 19 this month and has put in some impressive performances for Sporting Lisbon in the NextGen Series, scoring against Liverpool in Sporting's 3-0 victory.

Liverpool's Under 19′s have been drawn to play Tottenham in the NextGen Series quarter finals. The game will be played on February 1st at White Hart Lane.

They qualified for the knock out stage of the NextGen Series by finishing second to Sporting Lisbon. They've had a mixed tournament so far and were lucky to qualify for the next round after they lost three of there six group games.

United's under 18s fell behind three times but each time pegged their opponents back to earn a point and a few lessons against Bolton's under 18′s at Carrington this morning. In steadily worsening conditions throughout the 90 minutes, United failed to get into their stride and dominate possession like they had been doing in the [.

Tomorrow sees the return of the Premier Academy League as United take on Bolton at Carrington in an 11am kickoff. These sides met in early November in what proved to be a enjoyable game between two teams so far struggling for consistency this season. The match ended in a 2-1 win for United with goals [.

It has been confirmed today that Manchester United youngster, Ryan Tunnicliffe, will remain at Peterborough on loan for the rest of the season. He has made 24 appearances for the club since joining them in the summer.

It has taken several weeks for an extension to be agreed but Barry Fry, the director of football at Peterborough, spoke highly of the teenager when the deal was being talked about.

Over the past few weeks, with Manchester United keen to extend Paul Pogba's contract with the club, there have been rumours linking him with a move to Italian clubs. The papers suggested that the talented youngster would be able to leave on a free this summer although the manager has today confirmed we have the option to extend his current deal for another year.

Federico Macheda's agent Giovanni Bia has today claimed that the striker will be off on loan in January when the transfer window opens.

After a disappointing time on loan with Sampdoria, Bia claims that the Italian striker won't be returning to his homeland on loan again, but will probably accept one of the offers that has come in for him.

This team is rapidly becoming one of the most technically gifted youth teams the club has ever seen. Under the spotlights at Moss Lane on a cold rainy night, United's young hopefuls made light work of a determined Torquay United side that set up, at times, with 7 men at the back. Goals from van [...]

Ahead of Wednesday night's League Cup game against Crystal Palace, Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that we will be playing a young side like usual.

Palace are currently 10th in the Championship and managed to beat Southampton, who are top of the table, in the competition last month.

Ferguson is putting his faith in youth though and singles out Paul Pogba as a player who might start.

Mats Daehli stole the show at Carrington yesterday as Manchester United's Academy boys saw off a somewhat spirited fight from West Bromich Albion. Mats was the difference scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory that saw United extend their current winning streak to five games and maintain the momentum that's building up nicely to begin [.

The Academy have won all four of their last four outings (including two friendlies in Slovakia) and they will no doubt be hoping to continue that run of results when they host West Bromich Albion's Academy at Carrington tomorrow morning. West Brom are one position below United in the Premier Academy League and were beaten 4-2 last [.

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"VIDEO: Morrison, Petrucci and Fryers Goals vs Wigan" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer once turned down the offer of becoming the manager of the Norwegian national team in favour of staying in charge of our Reserves.

"I work for Manchester United and my career is going in the right direction," he said. "It would have been exciting to take on a much bigger job than my current job, but I have a job at United.

When we are faced with writing a "best of" list, we always tend to mention things that are fresher in our memory, which is why having to write about United's best 10 left midfielders ever has proved a lot trickier than I had initially thought. This is largely due to the fact that, in 24 [...]

On the weekend of Sir Alex Ferguson's 25th Anniversary, United's academy travelled to Bolton Wanderers and returned with a slender 2-1 victory. In Sir Alex's twenty five year career, he's given a first team debut to an incredible 79 teenagers. It's impossible to accurately predict which of the current crop of boys will go on [.

Two weeks ago United took on Crewe and got themselves back to winning ways (4-1) before they travelled off on their annual team building and strength-testing trip to Slovakia. Goals from Januzaj, Barmby, van Velzen and Rudge were enough to cement what was a much improved performance by the Academy and also gave us a chance [.

Manchester United are through to the quarter finals of the Carling Cup after a 3-0 win at Aldershot. Two days after suffering one of the most humiliating defeats in their history, United made a first step towards recovery by disposing of the League 2 outfit. A lot has been said, and will no doubt be [.

So we lost. 6-1. To City. In a week that brought us the catastrophic news of Westlife splitting up, it had me wondering what about now? Could this really be City's season in the sun?

It's always a mini-trauma to lose heavily to a bitter rival, and we all have our own personal coping mechanisms.

Anyone who takes even a passing interest in the Football League, let alone obsessives like us, will be aware of Thursday's vote to approve the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP). For those of you who remain unaware aware of its details, the EPPP can be summarized either, by its cheerleaders, as a blueprint for the improvement of the England national XI or, by its detractors, as an attempt by

Holy highwires, Batman. It's Thursday night! Well, thanks for the update, Captain Calendar. Stating the bleedin' obvious aside, it also means that the resplendent men of Hotspur are back in Technicolor again this evening. In a matter of two hundred-odd minutes, to be wholly imprecise. Yes, for those without a soiled mitt on a ticket, it's another Europa League dogfight pumped straight to your eyeballs through the medium of Channel 5.

Four defeats on the spin, and beaten by two of our closest rivals along the way, might suggest it's time for the Academy to panic, but hold on, not so fast. There were many positives on Friday and the 2-1 defeat away to Liverpool in no way tells the whole story of this competitive, exciting [...]

"VIDEO: Morrison Goal vs Bolton" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

A young and deeply inexperienced Nottingham Forest side travelled to Belper Town on Wednesday to face a Derby County team littered with experienced professionals. With the darkness of winter closing in, and the soft rain moistening the lush, emerald green pitch, an atmospheric encounter was expected and both sides duly delivered in quite some style [.

The less said about today's result the better. I'm not suggesting we should be dismayed or in any way embarrassed far from it, Wolves looked a competent side with some talented lads. What I mean is, the 5-2 scoreline masks what was actually a closely contested game played at a high tempo and in [..

A strong feature of the early part of Tottenham's season has been the use of various youngsters in our non-Premier League campaigns. Anyone who was at Hearts away and Shamrock Rovers at home would have been impressed by Andros Townsend's electrifying contributions. Harry Kane might have missed a penalty in that 0-0 bore-fest against Hearts at the Lane but his general performance in that game and away against PAOK Salonika demonstrated that he might be able to make something of his career at Spurs.

Last week, Sir Alex Ferguson singled out Ryan Tunnicliffe, Paul Pogba and Will Keane as youngsters at United who had the potential to make it in the first team.

Paul Scholes, who has been working with our youngsters in his new coaching role, has supported the manager's assessment, as well as praising Larnell Cole, who made his début against Leeds in the League Cup last week.

Arsenal hosted Blackburn on Tuesday night in what was a frustrating night for both sides. The team sheet included last weeks debutants Aneke, Ozyakup and Ryo (who is still short of fitness)! Neil Banfield decided to try last weeks unused sub Nico Yennaris in an unfamiliar central midfield spot, with under 18's Monakana, Ansah and [.

It's always part of the script when you visit Brockhall Village so be prepared for a battle. Blackburn didn't disappoint on that score yesterday and came away with a 3-2 victory after giving United's considerably smaller lads a roughing up early on in the game and stamping their authority with two well taken, but somewhat [.

Ezekiel Fryers, who is a left back by trade, played in the centre of United's defence on Tuesday night in our 3-0 win over Leeds.

The 19-year-old has expressed his delight in making his debut but is also eager for another chance to prove himself in the first team, after such a successful debut.

Manchester United are on something of a roll this season. Having despatched ‘top' sides Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea and scoring an astonishing fourteen goals against them in the process, the current incarnation of United looks absolutely irresistible. The remarkable thing is that on paper they look significantly weaker than in previous seasons.

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Paul Pogba will feature in tonight's game against Leeds.

The 18-year-old has impressed for the Reserves since joining United from Le Havre in 2009. The French club kicked up a big stink about his departure and given the way he has come on at United, it's no surprise.

Roy Keane has been very complimentary of his former club today, claiming that thanks to the quality of the academy, we'll only continue to improve.

"United to me are just going to get stronger and they are the team to beat as usual," said Keane. "At reserve and academy level, they have got such good young players coming through.

United's U18′s took on Middlesboro at Carrington today in a later than usual midday kickoff. After an impressive start to the season United's young guns took on what proved to be a very determined, well organised Middlesboro team who showed they were capable of matching United stride-for-stride. The game got off to a flying start [.

Arsene Wenger had his young Arsenal side flying towards a possible four trophies last season until it all came apart at the seams after losing the Carling Cup Final. The turmoil this caused led to Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Samir Cashri leaving the club which forced Wenger to bring in a host of new [.