Welcome to this week’s edition of the Manchester United academy notebook.

The Manchester Evening News provide more coverage of United’s academy than any other outlet and we experimented by publishing an academy notebook last season. We waited for the academy football to get fully underway in 2024/25 to bring it back, and we will bring our readers the notebook each week now it’s been relaunched.

It’s obviously the international break and some youngsters have represented their nation’s youth teams, while others have been given some time off and have continued to train at Carrington. So without further ado, here is a round-up of the latest news from the club’s youth set-up…

Oyedele makes his Poland debut

Maxi Oyedele completed a permanent transfer to Legia Warsaw in the summer and United allowed him to leave for a small initial fee, which included a substantial future sell-on clause.

Oyedele travelled on the pre-season tour of the United States and featured in each friendly against Arsenal, Real Betis and Liverpool from the substitute bench, but decided he needed to leave United to break into the professional game and that is paying off.

The midfielder has made a strong start to his time with Legia Warsaw, who are sixth in the Polish top-flight, and was rewarded with a first call-up to Poland’s senior national side.

Salford-born Oyedele was shaped at Carrington as a boy but qualifies to represent Poland and made his international debut against Portugal in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday.

Oyedele sometimes went under the radar during his time in the academy, but his ability was obvious and he has made an excellent start to life away from his boyhood club.

United trio train in Switzerland

United recently struck an agreement with Sir Jim Ratcliffe-owned FC Lausanne-Sport that saw three academy players train with the Swiss club this week.

Habeeb Ogunneye, Jack Kingdon and Ethan Williams flew to Switzerland on Monday and the three youngsters received the opportunity to train with Lausanne’s first team. All three 18-year-olds are making strong progress in the academy and were rewarded with the chance to gain experience with a senior squad thanks to United’s agreement.

Ineos acquired Lausanne in 2017 and the agreement between the Swiss side and United to give academy players an overseas experience is a benefit of their multi-club model. Lausanne are currently toward the bottom of the Swiss top flight but it’s hoped the opportunity to train with their first team will be a valuable learning experience for United’s academy trio.

Collyer plays for England U20s

Toby Collyer has been in and around the first-team squad again. The youngster is highly rated by academy coaches and Erik ten Hag and made his England Under-20 debut during the break.

Collyer has been involved with England’s various different youth teams but received a first call-up to England’s U20s and started in both games against Italy and the Czech Republic.

We spoke to Travis Binnion and Collyer’s former youth coach at Brighton about his development last month and the article offers an insight into the 20-year-old. Collyer has all the physical and technical attributes to play a role in the first-team squad this season.

‘Kid Messi’ scores a hat-trick

United youngster JJ Gabriel, who has the nickname ‘Kid Messi’, scored a hat-trick for the academy on Tuesday night.

United remain at the forefront of youth development and JJ Gabriel, who only recently celebrated his 14th birthday, is thought to be one of the finest prospects the academy has seen. He was given the nickname ‘Kid Messi’ after clips of him training and completing specialist skills went viral when he was younger and there is excitement building about his potential.

Gabriel scored three goals in an academy game against Blackburn at Carrington on Tuesday and his finishing has been described as ‘unbelievable’ by someone from United’s youth system.