Juan Mata has given an interview this weekend where he has spoken about how great it is to see Manchester United’s academy players break through in to the first team.

Marcus Rashford scored on his debut, scored twice against Arsenal, scored the winner against Manchester City, before scoring a greal goal against West Ham in the FA Cup to put us in to the semi-final. He now has seven goals in 14 games.

At Wembley, it wasn’t just Rashford who started, but Tim Fosu-Mensah and Jesse Lingard too, with experienced players like Mata, Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian left out.

I think it’s great for the club because, first of all the philosophy of the club is to bring in kids from the academy and this season we did great with that. They have proved themselves like really good players. Obviously they need consistency but they already great players and managing the pressure and expectations very well.

Most of them are shy at the beginning. Marcus, for example, is shy in the dressing-room but not on the pitch. He tries everything, and that’s fantastic to see as a senior player. To see these young players play their own football and give their best for the team, it’s good. We, as older players, try to make them feel comfortable.