From Fergie's Fledglings to the Brexit Babes? A colleague coined the latter moniker for Alejandro Garnacho, Alvaro Fernandez and Marc Jurado, all signed during the transition period of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
United deprived Barcelona of Jurado, Fernandez left Real Madrid and Garnacho switched from Atletico in the summer of 2020. The United academy head Nick Cox acknowledged 'Brexit Babes' was a good headline (kudos to PA's Simon Peach) but downplayed the timing of the three amigos' moves.
"Recruitment of those players, European players, there was an intake that was never driven by Brexit," he insisted. "I completely get why people thought that was the case. We don't stockpile here, what we do is we look at where we've got gaps in our pipeline of players that might eventually puncture the first-team squad.
