Get the day's biggest United stories delivered straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

'United, United, top of the league' has rarely been aired at Old Trafford in recent years but the Manchester United Under-18s are at the summit of their own league eight games into the season.

Now coached by Kieran McKenna, United have won five and scored 20 goals in the process so far, even hitting five in three consecutive games against Everton, Middlesbrough and West Brom.

United have benefited from a number of new recruits over the last year. DJ Buffonge, Tahith Chong, Nishan Burkart, Joshua Bohui and Lee O'Connor have bolstered the academy squad and have made favourable impressions in a short space of time.

On the eve of the visit of Sunderland at Carrington on Saturday, here are the 10 academy talents likeliest to make the first-team, from 10 to one...

10. George Tanner

A youngster who has already made the U23 squad, Tanner has been a revelation at right-back, having previously played on the right wing and in midfield.

(Image: Eddie Garvey/MEN)

He made his U18s debut in December - just weeks after he turned 16 - and Tanner has already represented England at U17 level. At a time when few United players were receiving England international recognition, Blackpool-born Tanner's emergence caught the eye and his rise through the ranks is not just due to a lack of bodies in the junior squads.

9. Callum Gribbin

Perhaps the most gifted footballer at Carrington yet to play in the first-team, Gribbin was training with the senior squad last year while he was still 16 but in a campaign the U18s struggled in, so did their wiry Salfordian.

Gribbin returned from injury spectacularly in August with that imperious solo goal against Barcelona in the Otten Cup. He succumbed to injury again, though, and has not played in any of the U18s' eight fixtures this term.

There are reservations over his attitude. One source described Gribbin as a 'diva', there have been the occasional outbursts on social media - although he is not the only one to have done that - and the U18s seem to play better without Gribbin.

Gribbin actually made his U21 debut in May 2015 - before Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Marcus Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah. That should motivate him to kick on and supplement his ability with application.

8. Tyrell Warren

Back in July, it seemed Tyrell Warren was set to enjoy a stratospheric rise similar to Rashford when Jose Mourinho mentioned him and Axel Tuanzebe as two youngsters likely to link up with the first-team squad.

"I don't know them well but I just trust Nicky Butt, [head of football development] John Murtough and the structure's judgement," Mourinho said. "When they say we have a few players who, in a couple of years, can be first-team players."

Warren, who turned 18 on Wednesday, was overlooked for the squad which travelled to Wigan for Mourinho's first game a week later but now he has overcome a recent injury the right-back could cement himself in the U23s this season, having featured for the U18s as an U15 schoolboy.

Manchester-born Warren impressed in his U21 cameos last season.

7. DJ Buffonge

The Londoner spent time at Arsenal and Fulham's academies before he arrived for a trial at United last year. Less than 12 months on, Buffonge is one of the most developed members of McKenna's U18s and made his U23 debut last month.

It is testament to Buffonge's class he recovered from an injury which ended his trial prematurely to still sign for United. Only Callum Whelan and George Tanner have made more U18 starts this term than Buffonge, 17, and his productivity rivals that of Tahith Chong, Indy Boonen and Angel Gomes.

(Image: Andy Lambert/MEN)

A senior outing seems unlikely this term but Buffonge could make the leap next season.

6. Lee O'Connor

"I’m going there because I want to play football," Lee O'Connor said in April. I want to play for the first team of Manchester United and I'll be honest, I wouldn’t be making this move unless I felt that I was good enough."

O'Connor was 15 when he joined United and has impressed so quickly in the U18s he has also been included in the U23 squad. The Republic of Ireland youth international is capable of playing in defence or midfield, which could fast-track his progress given the paucity of options Warren Joyce has at reserve level.

(Image: Joe Evans/Waterford News & Star)

One of a host of academy recruitments over the last year, O'Connor has already made five U18 starts and became an internet sensation last month with a virtuoso solo goal for the Irish U17s against Turkey.

5. Indy Boonen

The Belgian was linked with City and Arsenal before he agreed to move to United and Boonen has become one of the most influential figures in the U18s.

Boonen, 17, has three goals and three assists in seven games this term. He has become indispensable to McKenna's team's progress and Rashford might welcome him in the first team.

"We blindly found each other in matches and in training," Boonen said of his relationship with Rashford. Boonen, whose father was a professional footballer in Belgium, has complemented Gomes well, operating from a deeper role to help the U18s soar to the north league summit.

4. RoShaun Williams

"Who needs Pogba when you've got RoShaun?" Fletcher Moss chairman Ron Jamieson told M.E.N. Sport earlier this year. Williams, 18, was a first-year academy scholar last season but ended it as one of the outstanding individuals in the U21s, out-performing Phil Jones on occasion.

Williams was spotted by United at Fletcher Moss - where Borthwick-Jackson and Rashford played - and was identified as one of two stars before Rashford replaced Anthony Martial against Midtjylland in February.

"Marcus Rashford and RoShaun Williams were the two stars from that age group, not Cameron," Jamieson told M.E.N. Sport in January.

"Cameron was not an obviously outstanding talent. Marcus was tricky and I thought he would have had more chances in the first-team.

"He [Williams] was a year younger than the others when he came to us," Jamieson added. "He was a big lad even then. He performed very well and was very powerful and scary, too. He never shirked a tackle."

Williams made the United first-team bench twice last year but a summer injury halted his progress. Now fit again, he has already trained with the senior squad under Mourinho and has a telepathic partnership with Tuanzebe.

3. Tahith Chong

If you watch Tahith Chong's assist for Kayne Diedrick-Roberts at the weekend, he hurtles at such a pace down the flank he almost careers into a pole well past the touchline.

Curacao-born Chong, 17, is already a Netherlands Under-19 international and his early form for the United U18s has shown just why they coveted him so intensely last season. Chong was named best attacker of the Otten Cup, which is a phenomenal feat in a competition that featured Barcelona's mini Masia maestros.

At the risk of over-hyping him, Chong's running with the ball has shades of Ronaldinho and an old-fashioned winger would not go amiss in the first-team.

2. Axel Tuanzebe

"You can play 90 minutes or one minute. Sometimes one minute is enough," Mourinho said at Wigan. "With Axel, 10 minutes is enough! The potential is there, you see it immediately."

Before Borthwick-Jackson, Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah's first-team squad promotions, Louis van Gaal chose 17-year-old Tuanzebe for the match-day squad at Crystal Palace last year.

A four-month injury lay-off prevented Tuanzebe from debuting last season but he has returned emphatically. Consistently the outstanding performer in the U23s, he deserved his place in the pre-season tour and Europa League squads and Tuanzebe might regard it as a failure if he does not make his competitive bow this campaign.

The 18-year-old is already an England U20 international and the doubts over Marcos Rojo's and Phil Jones' futures could allow him to return to the first-team squad permanently soon.

1. Angel Gomes

"We've got some unbelievable players," Nicky Butt said last month. "Angel Gomes is a young and talented player we've massive hopes for."

Gomes received an England Under-16 call-up at the age of 14 and, now 16, he is captain of the U17s. Against Everton this season, the Londoner came on and scored a hat-trick and his productivity for club and country is staggering: eight goals and nine assists in 11 appearances.

Other accolades Gomes has received include the best player award at the the Internationales U15 Turnier - where he scored a goal Fifa 17 gamers would struggle to recreate and he was also named player of the tournament at the Premier Cup last year.

The teenager has the attributes to develop into an exceptional playmaker and his father's guidance could be crucial. Gil Gomes was teammates with Luis Figo and Rui Costa in Portugal's youth side but had a peripatetic career which ended at New East Manchester.