It’s not just Manchester United’s first team who were stopped in the middle of a promising run when football was suspended. The youth team were days away from playing Chelsea in the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup.



This year’s side includes Hannibal Mejbri, signed for £9.3 million at age 16 from Monaco last July. Such is his distinctive mop of hair, the substantial Leeds United following in the fifth round tie at Old Trafford dismissed him as “a shit Sideshow Bob”.



Alongside team-mates Aliou Traore and Noam Emeran, Mejbri is one of three Parisian youngsters scouted by the same man in Goussainville on the outskirts of Paris, close to Charles de Gaulle Airport. United’s Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial — as well as Thierry Henry, Patrice Evra and dozens of other world-class footballers — hail from the same Parisian banlieues.



United are recruiting well. They want the best English players for their first...