Wes Brown played 200+ games for Man United...
Rather than being a dick measuring contest of who does what my point is simply that your talent identification is there. The coaching appears to be there judging by the fact these players do go on to have good careers. I would argue both of these things appear to be better than what Man United have going on at the moment. So it's not that we're fantastic. It's an overall frustration with the lip service big clubs pay to this stuff and to me it makes me feel more detached from the game as everything is bought in ready made.
Ultimately it doesn't really amount to all that much for the first team, and yes that's why James and Mount were the players I referenced because they indisputably have been invested in and made an impact and that should be the standard academies are aiming at. I personally think that even the ones floating around the squad currently will be gone within the next couple of seasons as you continue to spend absurd sums. I don't think you give them the same opportunities because it's easier to buy than to accept the mistakes of young players and there's always an excuse that they weren't good enough or it's hard to make it. Well, you were attempting to buy a lad back that was your youth player to begin with and you also spent a season where you couldn't hit a barn door after selling a consistent goalscorer that came through your system to Roma!
The season we "couldn't hit a barn door" we produced our 3rd highest ever PL scoring season.
I apologise if it came across as a "dick waving" contest as that's not how I meant it too but for me there's a lot more to coming through than being the big players for 20 years. And even if we did just have Mount and James in the last few years, that's still a pretty good ratio for top club standards anyway.
Even if we go back 10 years, they'll be Ryan Bertrand who was a full time member of the squad for 3 years and helped win us the FA Cup, UCL and Europa, is that coming through? For me absolutely yes, even if he eventually didn't cut it as a long term player, he made big contributions for us.
Some do eventually get sold, but they do after getting multiple chances in the first team. Even the ones who do get sold before that end up with a top flight career in so small part thanks to how well we've looked after and coached them.
Yes there was a period in the early Roman we had a really bad record when it came to youth players, but that's firmly a thing of the past now.