UNITED'S £50m summer signings have tightened the squeeze on Old Trafford's production line.

The arrivals of Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson helped convince 2003 FA Youth Cup winner Kieran Richardson he needed to move on, following his his captain of four years ago, David Jones, to pastures new.

And with Carlos Tevez set to jump the queue, Giuseppe Rossi is now considering his options, although the latest noises coming out of Old Trafford suggest the Italian will stay.

More than ever, such extravagant spending has had a knock-on effect down the conveyor belt of a club famous for its youth system.

United were FA Youth Cup finalists in May, but succeeding at teenage level is different to making it big with some of the world's finest internationals.

It has made the challenge for the next generation of Ronaldo and Rooney wannabes - and United's Academy director Brian McClair - even tougher.

"Young players and parents should always have dreams," said McClair. "Parents dreaming of their boy playing for Manchester United and the lad having the same dream is a lovely thing. I don't think that has changed and will ever change.

"No matter what happens down the line, we always say at the outset to parents that if their boy comes into our academy system at eight years old they will be better players by the time they reach 16 and are considering becoming professionals than if they had gone to any other club.

"You see the recent cases of Kieran Richardson and David Jones, who'll be in the Premiership this season with Sunderland and Derby County, and I think we can say the product we are producing is good enough to play in the Premier League."

Difficult

Seven of last year's Premiership-winning squad were brought throught the youth system, but McClair added: "It is more difficult now, for instance, than when the Class of 92 came on to the senior scene. It is a different world now.

"There was less financial muscle to purchase players then, maybe a smaller transfer market to choose from. It is a worldwide search these days.

"I am not saying the Giggs, Beckhams, Nevilles, Scholes and Butts wouldn't have made it because they were great talents but it is harder now.

"But that is all part of the challenge. Our view is that we want to have as many players as we can develop and getting into the first team squad and establishing themselves.

"We are trying to produce a superior product than at some clubs but that is the challenge.

"It is down to us to produce the players and we are happy with what we have got in the system.

"Not everyone will make it but we want the lads who've been with us to go on and have good careers either at United or elsewhere. That is what we are about."

United's global search to provide the first team with the very best means the Reds have imported a German, a Dane and a Portuguese into the youth system and two Brazilians are on their way.

This in turn has also made it harder for Mancunians to get on to the ladder.

"The Busby Babes didn't all come from Manchester," McClair pointed out. "In those days to make United into the best, the club looked for the best in Britain. Now you have to look for the best in the world.

"But we always have had and will continue to have local talent as well. The importance of that won't change. You have to be brave sometimes and the manager here at United has been brave in the past and will continue to be brave in terms of promoting youth players."

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