Manchester United have one of the finest youth academies in world football.

Incredibly, a homegrown player has been included in every Man United first-team squad since 30 October 1937.

They produce a lot of talent - including Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard - but some of the highly-rated youngsters don't make the grade.

Former Man Utd academy star Ravel Morrison was considered one of the most exciting young prospects in European football but the 25-year-old now finds himself playing in Mexico.

BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand recently emphasised just how good Morrison was when he was a teenager.

"Sir Alex called me and Wazza over one day and said, 'look, this kid is better than you when you were a kid Wayne, better than you Rio, better than Ryan Giggs'. 'This is the best kid you'll ever see'," Ferdinand said.

Another player who failed to make the step up at Old Trafford is a 23-year-old Dutchman named Gyliano van Velzen.

What happened to the United wonderkid pinched from Ajax

Man United signed the young winger from Holland in November 2010 - but Ajax were furious to see of their finest youngsters poached by a bigger club.

The Dutch giants considered making a complaint to UEFA, and wrote to then United chief executive David Gill to express their dissatisfaction at losing the young talent.

According to The Guardian, Man United convinced Van Velzen to leave Ajax by offering his family a house in Manchester.

At the age of 17, Van Velzen was the youngest player in a star-studded Man United squad - featuring Paul Pogba - which would go on to win the FA Youth Cup in 2011.

However, that ended up being the pinnacle of his career in Manchester.

Van Velzen signed his first professional contract at United in 2012 but was released one year later after an unsuccessful loan spell at Belgian club Royal Antwerp.

He signed with Utrecht in 2013 but made only two appearances in the Dutch Eredivisie before being released after one season.

The lanky winger moved to Volendam in the Dutch second division and enjoyed a successful 18-month spell there before earning a move back to the Eredivisie.

In January 2016, Van Velzen joined Roda JC but, despite breaking into the first team last season, he has made only four league starts in the 2017/18 campaign.

"Everyone is still talking about how I played with Pogba and Jesse Lingard and people like that," said Van Velzen to the Manchester Evening News in 2016.

"I think about United and how it could have been different but it's happened now - I have to move on."

At the age of 23, there's still plenty of time for him to forge a successful career.