Manchester United are ready to step up the quality of the opponents facing their youth teams next season.

The Mirror says United will PAY to fly in high-quality opponents like Ajax and Juventus to play their Under-19 stars next season in an astonishing initiative after their Champions League blunder.

After a shocking run of form in the closing weeks of the campaign Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's senior stars failed to reach the Champions League for next season, instead finishing sixth to only guarantee Europa League participation.

That's meant United's youngsters can't compete in the prestige Uefa Youth League next season.

The competition is only open to the 32 teams who have qualified for the Champions League plus the domestic youth champions of the 32 nations like Liverpool who won the FA Youth Cup Final against Manchester City .

It's believed the plan was the brainchild of Nicky Butt, the head of United's Youth Acadamy and former 1999 Treble-winning midfield star.

It's believed Butt has been given a significant budget to pay top clubs to bring their young stars to Manchester to play games against teams that will be made up of Under 17,18 or 19 year old United stars.