Football evolves quicker than any other sport and Manchester United enthusiasts will have gauged that from contrasting the midfield triumvirates of their last two triumphant FA Youth Cup sides.
Ravel Morrison, the conductor of the Class of 2011, was a maverick while Paul Pogba and Ryan Tunnicliffe were two steely box-to-box midfielders. Eleven years later, Kobbie Mainoo, Dan Gore and the cherub Sam Mather were pocket dynamos whose passing patterns could have been mistaken for teenage midfielders from Barcelona or Ajax.
Fifteen years ago, Barcelona emerged as one of the great football teams in living memory and signalled a shift in how clubs built midfielders. There was a fastidious emphasis on ball retention and a midfielder did not have to possess an imposing physique to unnerve opponents.
Teenage hopefuls have been written off in England, in particular, due to their height or frame since time immemorial. Now England have caught up and possess an embarrassment of riches in the middle third.
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Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice are two £100million+ midfielders and Trent Alexander-Arnold, similarly valued, stepped forward to great effect in England's last two internationals. Mason Mount and Kalvin Phillips started in the European Championship final two years ago.
Zidane Iqbal was two years above Mainoo, Gore and Mather at United and studied Frenkie de Jong, which ought to stand him in good stead in the Eredivisie. In Mount, Erik ten Hag has recruited a creative midfielder who was likened to De Jong during his work experience year in the Eredivisie in 2017-18.
"I'm sure he will bring dynamic into our game and that's one of our analytical conclusions after last season," Ten Hag said on Wednesday. "We need more dynamic in the midfield department."
Ten Hag regarded Bellingham and De Jong as the best-in-class midfielders but both were unobtainable, so Mount was the first through the door. In a summer where United must address the two most important positions in a team, Ten Hag made a beeline for a creative midfielder.
"He will absolutely increase the level of our team," Ten Hag vowed. "He is ball-secure, has good solutions on the ball, is dynamic, and is good at defending. He is a complete midfield player.
"Also, he has some areas he has to work on, but in general, he is a very good player who suits Manchester United and can help us achieve our goals."
The most dynamic midfielder Ten Hag had last season was a 30-year-old going on 31. Casemiro is also a defensive midfielder though, like the best in his position, he is influential in attack.
Scott McTominay is a decent goal-getter and committed but not dynamic. He is more aligned with Tunnicliffe and Pogba than Mainoo and Gore and under Ten Hag McTominay has resumed the squad player status that was always his level.
Christian Eriksen, nine days older than Casemiro, tires too quickly in matches to be truly dynamic and he may take a back seat in his second season. A seat in the departures lounge is reserved for Fred.
If Fred goes and United do not add another midfielder then Mainoo will stay. The 18-year-old is under consideration to go on the tour of the United States next week and he leapfrogged Iqbal last season, his progress only hampered by injury for the run-in.
Mainoo has played 87 minutes against League One Charlton, relegated Reading and relegated Leicester. Pitting him against the midfields of Arsenal, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund is a reasonable litmus test for an 18-year-old on their initiation tour.
Rice could be an Arsenal player by next week, Madrid boast Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Lukas Modric and Toni Kroos while Dortmund were a win away from the Bundesliga title in May.
Beyond the opponents, Mainoo would continue to absorb wisdom from Casemiro and Eriksen and dovetail with Mount. The two formed a fine understanding, albeit against an unrecognisable Leeds XI in Norway, and Mainoo does not turn 19 until April.
United signed Mainoo shortly before he turned nine in the year Ander Herrera joined the club. Like Marcus Rashford, Mainoo has regularly played above his age level in the academy. He first played for the under-18s at the age of 15.
The United academy staff consider Stockport-born Mainoo to be a natural talent with immense technical prowess. Against Leeds in Oslo, he was entrusted with the ball time and again by Lisandro Martinez, himself adept at line-breaking passes. Mainoo twice played progressive balls that accelerated and advanced United attacks.
Yesteryear, Mainoo would have been poached by City, as his Youth Cup-winning teammate Charlie McNeill was. United's academy, initially neglected in the uncertain post-Ferguson years, is at an optimum level again and age groups are no longer pillaged by rival clubs.
Darren Fletcher's twins, Jack and Tyler, are about to defect from City to United, where they watch the majority of home matches from the directors' box. The evolution continues.
