In a season largely of disappointment for Manchester United, their youth teams continue to be a beacon of light to be proud of.
On Saturday lunchtime, the U18s made nine changes to their side and still thrashed Leeds to maintain their flawless start to the new campaign with 13 wins from 13. A couple of hours later, the U21s continued where they left off with an emphatic victory over Norwich at Old Trafford.
United are well aware that positive results are simply a by-product of all the hard work that goes on at the youth level, and the real success of their illustrious academy is that 249 players have emerged from it to make their competitive debuts for the club.
A week after United held their annual academy event at Old Trafford, it was the turn of the U21s to showcase why they should be the next in line to get a first-team opportunity. Head of the Academy, Nick Cox, said he was genuinely intrigued to know who the next would be. It might not be Sam Mather, but he could well be one of the following crop to do so.
The 19-year-old was one of the key players when United won the FA Youth Cup two years ago, scoring two goals on their road to the final. Two of his teammates from that side, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, are now shining for the first team. He has every right to dream of that himself.
Mather’s progress has been halted by injury since that youth team triumph and now he looks to be making up for lost time. It only took him fifteen minutes to net a stunning first-half hat-trick on Saturday afternoon.
Those memorable nights in the Youth Cup had Mather well used to playing at Old Trafford and he looked right at home when he calmly fired in at the back post to give his side an early lead.
He almost had a second when his low shot was saved by Dan Barden, but the Norwich ‘keeper could do nothing about his next effort when United won a free kick about 25 yards out from goal and Mather expertly fired it into the top right corner of the goal.
It means a lot to the Salford-born winger to get these opportunities and even more that he has been able to take them. Five minutes after his stunning free kick, he fired another low effort just wide of goal from outside the box.
What will please his coaches most, though, is that he also knows how to do the simple stuff. If you put yourself in the right areas, you will score a lot of goals. He did just that when he tapped in a third from a matter of yards out after James Scanlon’s initial effort had been saved.
He not only had three goals in 15 minutes, but he could quite easily have had five. But if you don’t take those chances, you will be punished. Norwich didn’t have many but got one back on the stroke of half time when Ken Aboh fired into the bottom corner after a brilliant solo run.
Norwich were much improved after the restart but when a player is in red-hot form, there is little you can do. United worked the ball well on the edge of the box and when it reached Mather at the back post, he cut inside and curled a beautiful effort into the far corner of the net.
The only annoyance is that United’s dominance wasn’t so obvious by the end. A calamitous defensive mix-up allowed Adian Manning the simplest of tap-ins into an open net and Norwich should have had another when Aboh fired over from a tight angle inside the box.
In a month when United sources claim any move for a new forward would have to be “exceptionally economical,” there would be no greater example than promoting someone from the youth ranks instead.
United are in desperate need of another goal-scoring forward. Mather is one of them.