Manchester United make first move in securing released Huddersfield academy players on trial

Manchester United have invited 15 players under the age of 16 for trial at their Carrington training complex after Huddersfield Town decided to close their academy on their own accord.

The Red Devils have moved swiftly and brought in the players for a closer look with Liverpool, Manchester City and Everton also keen on signing some of the promising talents made available by the newly promoted Premier League club's decision.

The players released by the Terriers will be free to sign contracts with new clubs and Huddersfield will not be entitled to a compensation for their development up to this point as is the case when a club signs a player that has come through a rival club's academy.

Huddersfield made the decision to downgrade their academy setup from a category two to a category four after they decided to retain only their Under-23 and Under-18 squads and disband the other youth teams in the academy.

According to the Daily Mail, the Premier League newcomers will reinvest the £500,000 ($676,440) they save from this exercise in the club's annual running costs. The decision was made after viewing the lack of progress made by their academy to bring through promising players, but that was changing in recent years.

The report claims that four players namely, Raj Mahmood, Rocco Fragapane, Harvey Rowe and Sam Murray are at Carrington at the moment as United take a closer look with a view of potentially signing them for their youth setup.

Apart from strengthening the first-team, Jose Mourinho has paid equal attention in bolstering the academy, which is headed by former player Nicky Butt. They have made a number of recruitments over the last year with players coming from across the globe and the Huddersfield youth team players could find a new home in Carrington should they impress the coaches at the club.