INEOS have prioritised recruiting youth as one of the key parts of the revamp at Old Trafford. Manchester United has seen the young arrivals of Ayden Heaven from Arsenal, Seku Kone from Guidars FC and now comes another young star.
It’s good to see United still caring about youth development with the clear shift in wanting success immediatley with the summer signings of Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko.
According to the football X page @13football_com, Etienne Mendy who plays for the Senegal U17’s is currently on trial at Manchester United
𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟯 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 : 𝗔𝗽𝗿è𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝗡𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘆𝗲 à 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗹, 𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝗲𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗶𝘀. 𝗜𝗹 𝘀’𝗮𝗴𝗶𝘁 𝗱’𝗘𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘆. 𝗟’𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿é… pic.twitter.com/akSokjF1Iq
— 13football_com (@13footballC) September 11, 2025
Since Jim Ratcliffe came in, at first the impetus was to sign players from teams on the heels of the ‘elite’ clubs in the world. Teams from Serie A like Atalanta or Dutch Giants Ajax, think of the Rasmus Hojlund signing as a perfect example for instance or Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna.
It seems as though it is more of a mix now with proven Premier League talent coming in whilst trying to develop youth teamers for the future and slowly bedding them into the first team.
Nurturing youth and getting to players that nobody else has discovered yet it is an important part of what makes elite clubs successful.
Think about Real Madrid’s recruitment policy specifically the way they operate in Brazil, they normally get to players first quicker than anyone else and then mix it in with their superstars they buy regularly, United need to lean into this and follow suit as they are one of the few club in the world that can rival them in terms of scale.
Hopefully Mendy does as well as he can and can follow in the footsteps of Diego Leon, Leny Yoro, Patrick Dorgu, Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi.
For now, it is just a trial and the hope is that Mendy does his best to impress the Red Devils.
