Appleton has won plaudits for the job he has done at Oxford

Manchester United have suffered another setback in their plans to overhaul the club’s academy, with Michael Appleton rejecting a chance to return to the club where he began his career.

The Oxford United manager is understood to have received an approach to relaunch the youth set-up at Old Trafford at the end of the season, but will stay at the Kassam Stadium, where he is negotiating a new contract.

The Times revealed last month that John McDermott, Tottenham Hotspur’s head of coaching and player development, rejected an offer to do a similar job at United.

United have fallen behind many of their Barclays Premier League rivals in developing young players, but attracting the personnel to correct that is proving problematic. There has been a void