Manchester United’s youth development strategy has been under heavy fire but the Europa League produced evidence of what they continue to do right.

Young players like Marcus Rashford, who scored twice as United came back from behind against FC Midtjylland of Denmark, proved they have a winning attitude and the sort of desire all coaches hope to instil in their Academy graduates.

Why would any club want to change that?

Marcus Rashford proved the Manchester United youth system is still working with a debut brace

Louis van Gaal, pictured with Jesse Lingard, has tried to stay true to the club’s youth development philosophy

They have suffered at the hands of clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea and others who have led the pay spirals for teenage footballers, assisted by the freedom to recruit more easily under the new rules of the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP).

United have young professionals in their first-team squad earning £30,000-a-year, less than some peers at City will earn in a week, despite being nowhere near the first-team. It has caused plenty of friction within the city.

City are rich and ambitious, and leading the way with fabulous new facilities and commitment to coaching through the youth ranks. Minds are set on building something special; a hub for the most talented young players in the world.

Chelsea yearn to be something similar in London, but both clubs have found it impossible to grow players into their first-team.

United have been doing it for years, and yet seem locked in an internal struggle, torn between the temptation to chase down this same path as others or to reinvest in the ethos ingrained in the club’s fabric by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Clubs like Chelsea and City (above) are determined to bring in the best young players from around the world, but integrating them into teams of superstars has proved difficult

Make no mistake, United have always used their glamour and financial clout to seek an advantage and lure talent into the club. They have preyed on smaller clubs and bent rules like others to secure exciting young players from abroad.

But they have resisted the urge to over-indulge their young players. It is the chief reason they lost Paul Pogba, having signed him from Le Havre at 16, three years earlier.

Pogba had no great desire to leave Old Trafford but United could not match the offer from Juventus, and he made a snap decision to agree a move after he was denied a chance from the bench during a defeat at home to Blackburn.

He was one who got away, and the mind-set which has fuelled his success in Italy is familiar to those he left behind in Manchester.

The main incentive at United – the message to parents of those they want to sign up – has always been an education in football and a pathway with the promise that, at 21-years-old, all things being equal, they will be equipped for a career somewhere in the top two tiers of English football.

Paul Pogba is the one that got away at Old Trafford after growing frustrated and leaving for Juventus

Louis van Gaal has been faithul to this philosophy, trusting young players even when his own reputation has been on the line and United’s academy system has been criticised for lack of investment.

Head of recruitment Derek Langley is on his way out. Nicky Butt was recently confirmed as the new Academy director, a role he has been in unofficially for almost a year since Brian McClair left.

Rumours of further back-room reshuffling are rife around football. Dan Ashworth, the FA’s technical director, is linked with a move to Old Trafford as Director of Football.

There was much fuss when Manchester City beat United 9-0 at Under-14 level in September, they have won the FA Youth Cup once in 13 years, but at Under-21 level, United continue to impress under long-serving coach Warren Joyce, winning the Premier League for three years out of the last four.

Last year, they clinched it at City. They are top again, despite seeing so many of the top-rated talent at a younger age following the big money to elsewhere. If results are important anywhere in the development system then it is at 21.

Manchester United Under 21s won their third Premier League title in four years last season

More important by far – all clubs agree – is the ability to produce first-team footballers with a mature outlook and a winning mentality. United have a policy is to breed them hungry, honest and ambitious. Not to numb these forces with too much too soon. They demand trust and loyalty. In return they offer a road map to professional football.

Against Midtjylland at Old Trafford, they proved their determination not to be beaten, fighting back from 3-1 down on aggregate. Rashford, an 18-year-old signed by United at the age of eight, scored twice on his debut.

Yes it was only Midtjylland but there is something deeper, something which cuts to the heart of the biggest problem in English football.

Over time United have captured the essence of youth development and must take care not to lose the secret in a talent scramble threatening to spill out of control.

Without it, England will close another of its top football factories.

There is already a depressingly long list of unfilled talent; gone before they make the first team, with futures secured by premature multi-million pound contracts, boot deals and properties for parents, and ambition dashed by lack of opportunity.

English football might as well start to cream off its top layer of its talent and cast it aside while ploughing on with the best of the rest, late-developers and misfits like Jamie Vardy who defy logic to reach the top from the bottom.

Former United academy graduates like Danny Drinkwater – currently leading the Premier League with Leicester – have carved out credible careers after leaving the club

United steadily churn out footballers. Not all Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, but good players with solid attitudes destined for careers in the game.

Danny Drinkwater is expected to receive an England call next month after a splendid season at Leicester. Danny Welbeck, Jesse Lingard, Tom Cleverley and Tom Heaton are competing for a place in the squad.

Hoping to make Euro 2016 with Wales, Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland are: Paul McShane, Darron Gibson, Robbie Brady, John O’Shea, Marc Wilson (Rep of Ireland); James Chester, Tom Lawrence (Wales); Jonny Evans, Corry Evans, Craig Cathcart and Oliver Norwood (Northern Ireland).

Elsewhere in the Premier League: Darren Fletcher (West Brom), Josh King (Bournemouth), Phil Bardsley and Ryan Shawcross (Stoke), Matty James (Leicester), Frazier Campbell (Crystal Palace), Wes Brown (Sunderland), Kieran Richardson (Aston Villa).

In Europe: Pogba (Juventus), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Rafael (Lyon), Mats Moeller Daehli (Frieburg), Magnus Wolf Eikrem (Molde), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover), Ravel Morrison (Lazio).

There are still those at United, like Adnan Januzaj (left), who are yet to fulfill their undoubted potential

There’s those still at United, including Adnan Januzaj, one of the few who may have tasted too much too young, certainly in terms of attention from covetous national teams, and those out on loan such as James Wilson, Tyler Blackett and Will Keane.

Others the Championship: Fabio (Cardiff), Kieran Lee (Sheffield Wed), Michael Keane (Burnley), Ryan Tunnicliffe (Fulham).

The list is so long some are sure to have been omitted and it proves United do something right inside the youth system. The performances in the Europa League offered another reminder. They must ensure it is not lost in the quest to modernise.