Cochrane excited about United’s youth sides

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Justin Cochrane was appointed Manchester United’s head of academy player development and coaching in the summer.

Cochrane has previously held roles with England and Tottenham, and told the Independent he has been linked with managerial jobs at home and abroad.

But he says his focus is firmly on United and he is excited by the talent the club has coming through at all age groups.

He says the supporters should be excited too, while also acknowledging how tough it will be for the talented youngsters to actually make the first team.

“Externally I saw a lot of news and I’ve been linked to other jobs as well that probably didn’t get the press – quite a few jobs across the country at top clubs and a couple abroad,” he said.

“I’m looking at the 14s, the 15s, I watched the under-16s on Saturday, the 19s and 23s – I’m excited by what can happen, by where they can be in two or three years.

“That doesn’t mean there’s going to be five or six that are going to replace players in the first team. There will be players that have careers in the game and really good careers.

“It is exciting. It really is. The support should be excited because there’ll be players they’ll see hopefully come through, some into the first team but others have great careers.”

Cochrane has been brought on board as United continue their attempts to get the academy back to where it was before it lost its way in the post-Fergie era.

He is an exciting and innovative young coach who can hopefully play his part in United continuing to bring players through.

As he says, patience will be required with the young talents at the club and they won’t all make it.

But some hopefully will and in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United have a manager who will give youth a chance.

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