Manchester United have won the FA Youth Cup more than any other club in the competition's history and some of those winning sides have produced world-class players, like George Best, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Pogba.
The prestigious competition remains the pinnacle of academy football and United's youngsters were able to reach that summit last season when defeating Nottingham Forest in front of a record-breaking Old Trafford crowd of 67,492.
After contributing an impressive seven goals and three assists throughout the campaign, which included two goals in the final, Alejandro Garnacho went down as the poster boy of that team and there was a feeling he believed his own hype.
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Kobbie Mainoo might have been the most accomplished all-round performer in that Under-18 team, but Garnacho was the player who delivered goals in the big moments and that brought him the majority of external attention.
That attention, combined with scoring the bulk of the goals, meant Garnacho did not appear short of confidence. The youngster, who only celebrated his 18th birthday shortly after lifting the Youth Cup, possesses the swagger that special talents do.
The challenge for Garnacho after winning the Youth Cup was to progress again. The pitfalls of believing your own hype at such a young age are obvious and club staff were aware they needed to help him remain focussed and grounded.
Garnacho was handed his first-team debut by Ralf Rangnick at the end of last season and his progression was also recognised after the appointment of Erik ten Hag, who named the youngster in his squad for the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia.
Yet after six months of enjoying a meteoric trajectory, a reality check was given to Garnacho on tour. He was the only outfield player not to be given any minutes, with even Tahith Chong getting on ahead of him.
Garnacho was finally given an opportunity to start the final match of pre-season against Rayo Vallecano and he came on towards the end of the opening game of the season against Brighton, but he was then sent another message by Ten Hag.
With the exception of 20 minutes in the Europa League, Garnacho did not play again for the first-team across August and September.
He was finally given a chance when October rolled around and he seized those opportunities in matches against FC Sheriff and Real Sociedad in the Europa League and Aston Villa in the League Cup.
After Garnacho made his first start for the club in late October, Ten Hag revealed he 'was not happy' with the player at the start of the season and Fernandes eventually added in an interview a week later that the teenager 'didn't have the best attitude on tour'.
It seemed baffling that Chong, who was a certainty to leave the club, had been given minutes over Garnacho on the pre-season tour but those comments suggested the youngster's attitude had been the reason for his lack of involvement.
Since then, Garnacho has appeared to mature and in the space of 10 days in November, he scored the matchwinner against Real Sociedad, recorded two assists against Aston Villa and he scored a late, dramatic goal against Fulham.
Despite receiving a glimmer of hope with a late withdrawal from the Argentina squad, he did not travel to the World Cup and he created a stir after liking - then unliking - a tweet on social media that said he 'wasn't called up because he's Spanish'.
Such activity on social media is inadvisable but it's important to remember how young Garnacho is. He currently has a tendency to be reactive, like most in his year group, but he possesses the talent to succeed if keeping a lid on mental aspects.
Ten Hag was concerned with his attitude earlier in the season and he's carefully handled the youngster since. He's received increased opportunities and the only criticism of his performances was that he'd been unable to impact an entire 90 minutes.
However, that changed on Wednesday night in the FA Cup when Garnacho survived the substitutions to stay on the pitch before scoring the goal, which came in the 89th minute, that essentially won the game against West Ham.
It was a significant moment and Ten Hag said 'it was another step' in his development. The Dutchman has masterfully handled Garnacho this season and there seems no better manager to keep him disciplined and focused on progressing.
With the help of Ten Hag, Garnacho could climb to the heights of the 'Youth Cup poster boys' that preceded him.
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