Man Utd snap up Saints youngster Emsden-James

For obvious reasons, Premier League clubs are wary about promoting the arrival of highly rated youngsters from another academy.

It is why there was nothing from Manchester United last year confirming striker Chido Obi had joined from Arsenal.

But there was a lot of external noise around Obi and, rather unexpectedly, he ended last season as part of Ruben Amorim's first-team squad.

Now United have recruited another promising youngster in 16-year-old England youth international Harley Emsden-James from Southampton.

Emsden-James has attracted a lot of attention due to his performances at Southampton, where there is a handy link for United through technical director Jason Wilcox.

United are trying to target younger players in the hope they can eventually become first-team stars, which would reduce the number of senior players they have to buy.

There are no guarantees, clearly, but Emsden-James is a name to keep an eye on once the Premier League Under-18 season gets started.