Will Keane and Luke Giverin scored the goals, with the latter grabbing his in the 93rd minute, just a few minutes after coming on.

United: Amos; Vermijl (Giverin 89), Keane, Wootton, Fryers; Brady (Fornasier 82), Tunnicliffe, Pogba, Petrucci (Thorpe 70), Lingard; W.Keane. Sub not used: Johnstone.

United were named Premier Reserves League North champions a few weeks before the end of the season after coming back from 3-0 down to win 6-3 away to Newcastle last month.

Tonight, they were named Premier Reserve League National champions after beating Aston Villa in the play-off final. After the game finished 0-0, United won 3-1 on penalties, largely thanks to three great stops from our goalie. Joshua King, Jesse Lingard and Will Keane all scored their penalties.

Johnstone; Fornasier (Vermijl 46), M.Keane, Wootton, Fryers; Cole, Thorpe (Brady 50), Tunnicliffe, Petrucci (King 71), Lingard; W.Keane. Subs not used: Coll, Giverin.

Manchester United Reserves are the most successful of all time, matching Aston Villa’s five regional titles, whilst also claiming four national titles, three more than any other club in the country.

- 516 players have represented United in the FA Youth Cup. 32% make 1st team & 38% play league football elsewhere. 70% hit rate!

- 202 youth players have featured in in the United first team making over 17,500 appearances with 90 internationals.

- United have given débuts to 42 players who have been 17 or younger since World War 2.

- In the 60th year of the FA Youth Cup, United reached their 24th semi-final, which works out at one every two and a half years.

- In his 88 games in charge of United, Wilf McGuinness used 26 players – 6 bought & 20 youth players who made up 67% of total appearances.

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For more brilliant youth stats follow @mrmujac on Twitter.

“It’s my dream. I would love to play for United,” he told the official site. “That is my aim and my target for the moment. That’s the reason why I left home at 16. [It was brave] leaving without my family, but Kiko helped me a lot. Everything was new for me, however I wanted to play for United so badly – so badly – that’s why I did it. Everyone is so friendly that they make you feel at home. The first time I came here, it felt like home. That’s why I enjoy it here and why I want to play here. I would do it 100 times again. It’s so good being here.”

Petrucci also loves the city… it’s just the weather he’s not too keen on.

“I love it. I really love it,” he said. “It’s just the weather! I still don’t like the weather because I like the sunshine. I think if you had the Italian sunshine here, you would have the best part of the world. It’s not always sunny in Rome, but it’s definitely more sunny than here.”

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Read the interview in full.

However, after four goals from Will Keane, one each from Ritchie De Laet and Davide Petrucci, our Reserves were named champions with a 6-3 win. Jesse Lingard put in another great performance and claimed three assists in a game that saw Keane score his 17th goal in his 23rd appearance.

They now stand 7 points clear at the top with two games in hand over second placed Liverpool, with a game against Southern League champions to play.

“He can remain at Manchester United or go to Juventus,” said Raiola. “It’s a tough decision to be taken by the boy, thinking of his career. Both possibilities present some chances. It’s a choice that should be made quietly. United count on him and want to extend his contract. His future will depend very much on the will of the boy.”

Tuttosport claimed today that Juve have offered him €23,000 a week which works out at just under €1.2m a year. It’s hard to know how true these claims are given they refused to pay Lucas Piazón €1m a year, which lead to his move to Chelsea last year.

Manchester United twins, Will and Michael Keane, both scored in our youngsters’ 2-0 win over FC Dallas Academy in the Dallas Cup opener last night.

Raiola became Pogba’s agent last year and spoke to some of Europe’s richest clubs, including Manchester City and AC Milan, to get his player a top deal. Sir Alex Ferguson clearly doesn’t have any time for the agent and spoke out about this last December.

“He’s got an agent who’s obviously become a bit difficult but we’re negotiating with this agent and we want the boy to stay,” he said. “Matt Busby summed it up perfectly, that you don’t need to chase money at a club like Manchester United, it will eventually find you. If you’re good enough, you will earn money and become rich playing for us.”

Ferguson had apparently given Pogba a deadline to sign a new contract and that date has come on gone.

United will receive Fifa-mandated “training compensation” worth a few hundred grand.

Pogba was missing from the Reserves squad tonight, sparking rumours that he was either in the squad for Thursday night’s Europa League game… or he was off.

Could United afford the £20k a week and the ridiculous agent fee? Yes. Whilst the purse strings are certainly tighter under Glazer ownership, the wage bill has soured over the past few seasons. This is more likely an issue of principle and structure, with United not wanting to break the bank for a player who has only played two hours of football for the first team. Players and their agents take the piss these days but a club like Manchester United can’t be given the run around by teenagers who rarely even make the bench for the first team.

There are things that happen at our club that don’t happen everywhere else and that may be frustrating. Losing to Blackburn with our best player out of the squad because he’d come to training hungover was annoying. Selling our top goalscorer because he had a strop about being benched and was acting up behind the scenes pissed some people off. But you have to trust that the manager knows what he’s doing and it is for the benefit for the club. If players are going to piss about, the manager knows better than anyone how to deal with them. If the manager doesn’t think it’s wise to pay 18-year-old Pogba £20k a week, then I’ll trust that he knows better than us. Although that won’t make it any less frustrating if Pogba is sold to Real Madrid for £40m in a few years time…

Agent: Why Player X it is you. It will always be you. You are the one everyone desires….

It was only five minutes ago we were discussing Ravel ‘best player since Paul Scholes’ Morrison and his worth to Manchester United. Real Madrid wanted him. Barcelona was going to send over a private jet personally flown by Gerard Pique. Russian giants were lining up to give him an oil well to travel East. And East the boy went, South East…to London giants West Ham United.

It was only a matter of time before the Pogba stink bomb went off and everyone from Salford to Singapore can smell the stench. The latest fact based on internet rumour is that the lad wants £45,000 a week to sign up, which is the sort of money someone in a blue collar job would be happy with a year. However this young man would be pocketing it every seven days.

Value is an overused word in the football industry. Fergie uses it to justify his inactivity in the top end of the market and how he has to develop from within, and that he would rather do this than purchase some bloke called Wesley from northern Italy. Clubs like City and Chelsea use the word to justify elaborate spending. I once heard Fernando Torres described as ‘value’. I also heard Samir Nasri called ‘a marvellous value purchase’. So how much is a prodigious talent like Paul Pogba really worth? What is his ‘value’?

Well the simple answer lies in the pre-global recession housing market: You go and you view a house. You think said house is nice or you may think said house is ‘la maison’ of your dreams. You look at the value of it. Then you decide how much you are going to try and get knocked off its value. In Britain we all love what we perceive to be a bargain. Current house owner then tells you to ‘do one’ when you try and get 20% knocked off, and a game of loggerheads begins.

Football is like this, with the Kia Joorabchians of the industry are the proverbial property estate agents, whoring your services to the planet. Pogba wants £45k. Who says he’s not worth £45k?! He is the home owner of his talents. His agent acts ‘in his best interests’, United want the house, it just depends on how bad they want that house, or if they are really happy with the nice three bedroom semi they already have called Anderson. The ball really is in the club’s court. Then you must always remember that there could be a Rod, Jane or Freddie round the corner, always ready to gazump you out of the picture, who then stick their horrible net curtains up in the windows that should have been yours.

I think it’s almost impossible for fans to determine footballing value. In a world dominated by Football Manager players and the cult of online FIFA 12, it’s easy to ignore the detail and only consider the bare bones. And the bare bones are that Pogba is greedy. Well, congratulations! Most footballers are. Even the lads strutting around at Bolton get paid millionaires wages. Even Ravel Morrison got paid a small fortune to go and play for the team that won the 1966 World Cup or whoever they think they are. Pogba’s agent is going to ‘go in high’, leak every move to the press, and butter up a whole loaf of lies to feed the world about where his client is going. Juventus? Juventus!?? Yes, any player with ambition would join Juve over Manchester United. However, in a game that doesn’t do sarcasm that well, a dirty great big wage packet will get Mr Pogba to Serie A with ease. It’s the nature of the beast.

The fact is that if United do not value Pogba at his desired wage then we have to bin the lad. For years United have told us he is the real deal, that he is a future midfield colossus, that we are getting a solid gold teenager. I’m sure they’ve even told Pogba that themselves. The lad probably believes the hype. So when he wants an inflated wage we should hardly be surprised. In a world where Wayne Rooney can one day ask for a transfer because he is dissatisfied, and the next day decide he will happily sign a huge new contract, nothing surprises or shocks me anymore.

My take on this? I’d pay Pogba the wage. This is not a guessing game. We know the lad has quality. Fergie is the only one who can tell you why he hasn’t blooded him yet, but if he is to be a star of the future, there is no wondering why his agent is trying to negotiate at such a level. Pogba could very much be at Cleverley’s level in six months time in terms of position in the squad. It’s all very romantic to say ‘make him earn the money first!’ and ’get him in the side and give him an incentive’. Sorry. Football isn’t like that any more. Traditionalists will be shocked by the money being bandied around the young Frenchman but this is the modern game. The club are not being held to ransom. Ask yourself, if another club pays him what he wants are they being held to ransom? Value is in the eye of the beholder.

Ultimately, the worst case scenario is that young Pogba goes to Italy and grows into the player most think he will become. There on, he is sold for a huge fee by his club and ends up at a Barcelona or a Madrid or, God forbid, a Manchester City, where he becomes a cult hero and wins trophies like the way it likes to rain. And as United fans we will be able to say: “we helped create that lad”, just as we stick the ‘for sale’ sign up outside that three bedroom semi.

Who has the glass slipper for Princess Pogba’s foot? Let’s hope it’s us. God knows we could do with a midfield blushing bride.

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Like this article? Follow Rob B on Twitter. Rob B is the editor of The Faithful website and a writer for Red News.

“It is a precarious situation,” Raiola told The Independent. “It is difficult at the moment. Manchester United want him. It is up to the boy to make some decisions. We know there are some clubs interested in him. We must finish first with Manchester and after that we will see other options, if they are there. The club give the indication that they want to keep him and we are talking contract terms. There is willingness from both parties at the moment.”

Rumours suggest that Pogba was given a deadline to decide by Sir Alex Ferguson, which has come and gone, explaining his absence from the Ajax squad, although some reports suggest he has until Friday to make a decision.

“It is never nice for the player not to be in the squad,” he said. “We must keep our minds cool and heads cool. Some things are good. Some things are not good [in this situation].”