Manchester United have scored a victory over rivals City as a third scout has crossed from the blue side to the red.

Ronnie Cusick will join United in the middle of January to work in the Old Trafford club’s academy, following Dave Harrison and Lyndon Tomlinson, who made the same move earlier this month.

United have undergone a huge recruitment drive, including an overhaul to their scouting network, appointing more than 50 new scouts to work around the world.

It is just the latest measure executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has taken to address the growing gap between United and City, which has been underlined by three heavy academy defeats to their neighbours in November.

Three academy sides were beaten 9-0, 6-0 and 5-0 by City in a matter of days and the obvious gulf in quality of the two academies has said to have alarmed Woodward.

United’s end of year review made it clear they were unhappy with the development of their under-23 squad and the youth setup was thrown into further disarray when Warren Joyce left to become Wigan manager, leaving Nicky Butt to take over on an interim basis.