Manchester United have the ideal transfer strategy to raise standards in the squad

Man Utd have invested heavily in the academy over the last 12 months and that could pay dividends over the next few years.

This summer Manchester United have signed players from Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, as well as Manchester City. A year ago it was Monaco and Ajax.

The first-team might not be feeling the benefits of renewed investment in the academy just yet, but it might not be long before they do and it won't only be the new faces who edge their way towards Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad.

A desire to bring in the best young players across Europe and the uncertainty of the post-Brexit landscape has seen United's recruitment at Under-18 level accelerate over the previous two summers.

Last year Hannibal Mejbri and Dillon Hoogewerf arrived from Monaco and Ajax respectively, but that was only the prelude. In this window United have signed Marc Jurado, 16, from Barcelona, Alvaro Fernandez, 17, from Real Madrid and 16-year-old Alejandro Garnacho from Atletico Madrid. They also brought in Isak Hansen-Aaroen, 16, from Tromso, with the Norwegian playing first-team football at 15 this summer.

Czech Republic goalkeeper Radek Vitek, 16, has also arrived, and there have been new recruits domestically, with money spent on Joe Hugill, also 16, from Sunderland and now on signing Charlie McNeil from Man City. More than £1million has been committed on the deals for forwards Hugill and McNeil.

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Not all of those signings will make the grade to the first-team squad at Old Trafford, but some of them will stand an excellent chance. Mejbri is already making an impact having stepped up the Under-23s at 17.

It's another boost for the academy with players consistently getting a chance under Solskjaer. His Premier League squad this season will include Dean Henderson, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams, Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford. There could also be places for Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Jesse Lingard.

Results at academy level are improving, too. The Under-23s are back in Premier League 2 and the Under-18s had reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup last season before the competition was suspended. On Wednesday Neil Wood's development side won 6-0 at Salford City in the EFL Trophy, adding the Ammies to the scalps of Rotherham, Doncaster and Lincoln last season.

There is talent coming through at United and the aggressive recruitment drive could also help those players already in the system. It can only be a benefit to the local youngsters to train with players from Monaco, Ajax, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Standards will increase and that should have a positive effect throughout the system, as Wood explains.

“As a player you want to keep your place, that’s competition coming in. As much as you’re a team you’re also in competition with the other players," he said.

“Hopefully it will drive standards up, it will make improvements, keep players on their toes, it can only be a good thing bringing talent in and a good thing for the other lads already here."

There will be loan moves for promising midfielders Dylan Levitt - who has already joined Charlton - and James Garner this season, while Ethan Laird could join them. Teden Mengi, 18, is already close to the first-team squad.

Now the competition for places within the academy system has gone up another gear, the conveyor belt of talent will begin to speed up.

Mark Helm, 18, scored twice in the win at Salford and believes the performances are beginning to show just how fierce competition is.

"There's a lot of quality in the team now and that shows in training and in games, we beat a first-team 6-0. Everyone works hard and pushes each other to get the best out of each other," he said.

"It gives a bit of competition and it's healthy competition as everyone is fighting for places. I think it makes everyone train better."