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Transfers between Manchester United and City are normally earth-shattering affairs and rare but three players are treading the path soon.
Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic reports that United have agreed a fee of £1.25 million for Darren Fletcher’s son, Jack and Tyler, with Harrison Parker walking the opposite path to City for a similar fee.
Manchester United have agreed a fee of around £1.25m for Darren Fletcher’s 16yr-old sons Jack + Tyler. The twins have been at Manchester City’s academy.
Harrison Parker, also 16, will go to City for a similar fee.#MUFC
— Laurie Whitwell (@lauriewhitwell) July 22, 2023
The fee is reportedly a record for U16 players within the UK, showing how highly these three talents are rated by their respective buying clubs.
Darren Fletcher, the Technical Director at United, had enrolled his sons into City’s academy as had been the trend until recently because United’s academy was lagging behind.
Many former United players like Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney had initially enrolled their kids into City’s academy, considered the best in England.
It has slowly started changing as this double capture shows.
Harrison Parker, who The People’s Person covered extensively recently, is also a highly-rated talent, so United will be gutted to lose out on him.
However, it could have been the price to pay to extract two exciting talents from City’s academy.
Both Tyler and Jack Fletcher are midfielders in the mould of their dad and have been touted as one of the best talents in their age group in England’s youth circuit.
United’s academy ranks could need beefing up soon, especially in midfield, with Kobbie Mainoo making the step to the first team and Finley McAllister expected to be promoted to the U21s this season after signing a new deal.
Despite being just 16, appearance for the U18 squad for the twins cannot be ruled out next season.
For United, this counts as a big win and validation of their ever-improving academy stature. The U18s won the FA Youth Cup in 2021/22 and the emergence of Alejandro Garnacho and Mainoo shows there is a path to the senior team for youngsters.
