Want the latest Scottish sport news sent straight to your inbox? Join thousands of others who have signed up to our Record Sport newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Manchester United are exploring options to acquire an overseas feeder club in order to improve the development of the Premier League side's younger professionals.

The proposed acquisition of a smaller, continental-based outfit forms part of an ongoing plan to overhaul United's football operations in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson-David Gill era.

United - who have appointed a new coaching staff, a new academy director and completely revised their scouting network in the past year – are understood to be examining “smaller” clubs in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

(Image: Julian Finney/Getty)

Alongside three nations renowned for the quality of their youth development, Portugal could also provide candidates for the project.

Conscious they have slipped behind several Premier League rivals in the production of home-grown talent and wary of the lottery-like nature of loaning players to lower-ranked English clubs, Manchester United see a wholly or majority-owned feeder club as a means of guaranteeing playing time to individuals who are are not yet suited to their senior squad.

(Image: Julian Finney/Getty)

In contrast to using conventional loan deals, decisions on team selection, tactical structure, training practices and medical treatment could be completely tailored to United's long-term requirements.

The model has similarities to that deployed by Chelsea since 2010 at Vitesse Arnhem. Although Chelsea do not formally own the Dutch Eredivisie club, they have successfully used Vitesse as a controlled development base for their own players.

While none of the Chelsea-owned professionals “parked” at Vitesse immediately went on to establish themselves as Stamford Bridge regulars, several have been sold on to other European clubs at a substantial profit. Chelsea were also granted first option on Marco van Ginkel, signing the Netherlands international from Vitesse in the summer of 2013 despite strong competing interest from Dutch champions Ajax

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Chelsea were also granted first option on Marco van Ginkel, signing the Netherlands international from Vitesse in the summer of 2013 despite strong competing interest from Dutch champions Ajax.

With United's senior squad already over-sized and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward facing ongoing difficulties in convincing individuals surplus to Jose Mourinho's short and long-term requirements to leave, there is an acceptance that opportunities for younger talents within the senior squad will inevitably continue to be curtailed.

(Image: Manchester Evening News) (Image: Reuters)

The clear deficit in quality of a squad shaped by Louis van Gaal's scattergun approach to investing unprecedented transfer resources has led Mourinho to recommend the further recruitment of four or five top-class signings as and when they become available in upcoming windows, further complicating that development path.

United have sent five younger players with first-team experience out on loan so far this season. While Andreas Pereira has been a Liga regular at Granada; Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Adnan Januzaj, Guillermo Varela and James Wilson have seen their playing opportunities limited by coaching decisions and/or injury at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland, Eintracht Frankfurt and Derby County.

(Image: Sunderland AFC via Getty)

From the late nineties onwards, United sent more than 30 young professionals on loan to Belgium club Royal Antwerp, one of number of overseas outfits with which the Old Trafford club established “alliances”. Antwerp suspended the arrangement in 2009, citing problems they had in fulfilling their financial commitments to United's loanees. The former European Cup Winners' Cup Finalists are currently lie third in Belgium's second tier.