Manchester United academy chief Nicky Butt is confident they're well placed to compete for the world's best young players.

The last transfer window featured big-money transfers for former Academy players Michael Keane (Everton) and Danny Drinkwater (Chelsea), plus moves for Phil Bardsley, Tom Cleverley, Tom Lawrence and Darren Fletcher.

"It is a hard job, especially in today's society, with so many big clubs around the world with a lot of tick-boxes," Butt told MUTV. "Financially, with the training ground and everything that all the clubs can offer these boys now, it's massive.

"We're competing with a lot of clubs these days but I still believe we've got the best pathway. It's a fact we're probably the best or one of the best in Europe at developing our lads for the first team. We can speak to parents honestly and say, look, we always give our lads a chance to play for the club; the pathway is there to play if they're good enough.

"If not, we have X amount of players who play professionally across Europe and make a good living by playing football. The percentage who get to the first team is very small so we've got to offer something else and we offer a really good upbringing and football knowledge. If you look at how many around the Championship are from our Academy, it's great for the coaches."