Yes, young Phil obviously sees them more often than I do (he goes to all the away games), although how he judges them I’m not too sure as he usually has a few beers before the game!
The number who make a good full-time career after being in the Academies, is extremely small, although quite a few have decent “non-league“ careers. United’s has been far more successful than most. Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker haven’t done too badly for themselves (or for us financially). Add on Kyle Naughton, Matt Lowton, DCL, David Brooks and one or two others playing in Leagues 1 and 2, and it has been an undoubted success.
It’s just a pity that ever since its inception, we have never been able to match the terms offered by the big clubs to the really outstanding ones.