Whenever a young, talented English player makes a name for himself, it seems that Manchester United are in the hunt for his signature.
Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, James Maddison and Jude Bellingham are all on United’s radar at the moment, while last summer they parted with a lot of money to add Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire to their ranks.
However, if the latest CIES report is to be believed, there’s plenty to be said for the club’s approach to recruitment. It delves into what it describes as “the contribution of national associations worldwide from the point of view of the production of professional players” to determine which countries have been leading the way in developing talent.