Manchester United could secure a £500 million boost thanks to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s decision to pursue a new stadium. At the same time, the club’s 16-year-old prospect has earned a spot in first-team training following two impressive goals.
Man Utd includes 16-year-old in first-team training following two stunning goals
Jim Thwaites, just 16 years old, trained with Manchester United’s first team at Carrington on Wednesday.
The highly regarded Thwaites was one of the academy players brought into the session to bolster numbers before the Brighton match. His inclusion is notable for his age. Thwaites, a top prospect in his age group, earned the Goal of the Season award for both the Under-16 and Under-18 levels last season.
The youngster’s Goal for the U18s was crucial, as it secured a late equalizer against Derby in stoppage time. Thwaites’ timely strike led to a 2-2 draw, preserving the team’s unbeaten league record.
The U18s’ unbeaten streak in the league eventually ended—they lost only two matches all season—but they comfortably claimed the title, finishing six points clear of Manchester City.
The youngsters netted 78 goals during their successful Premier League North campaign, and it’s reported that City’s coaching staff recognized United’s excellence. City’s U18s had won the league for four consecutive seasons, and their staff privately admitted that United had outperformed them last term.
Last season, Thwaites mostly played for the U16s but also made nine appearances for the U18s and came on as a substitute twice for the Under-21s. This season, he is anticipated to play a key role in Adam Lawrence’s U18 team. His inclusion in first-team training on Wednesday reflects the recognition of his progress.
In July, United awarded ten first-year scholarships, including one to Thwaites. These scholarships are given to promising young players and mark a critical step towards securing a professional contract, which can be signed at age 17.
Man Utd could secure a £500 million boost thanks to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s decision
It has been reported that Manchester United could earn £500 million by selling the naming rights to their planned new stadium.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been open about his ambition to provide the Red Devils with a cutting-edge stadium following his minority takeover. He believes Old Trafford has lagged behind the standards expected of a top European club.
Ratcliffe quickly formed a task force to find the best solution. Their conclusion, revealed last month, favored constructing a new stadium with a 100,000-seat capacity on the club-owned land adjacent to Old Trafford.
It has been proposed that both stadiums coexist, with United retaining Old Trafford as a secondary venue. This option, however, is more costly, with an estimated price tag of £2 billion.
However, Dr. Rob Wilson, a professor of Applied Sports Finance at Sheffield Hallam University, has proposed that a quarter of the cost could be recovered through naming rights alone. He explained to Casasdeapuestas that Old Trafford would retain its name. In contrast, the new stadium could be named something like the Snapdragon Arena, addressing misalignment. This discussion also touched on the potential for United’s kit sponsor to extend their partnership.
“I think in terms of figures, if it was Snapdragon, they’d look to try and tie that into their shirt sponsorship and some of their other activities. It could do one or two things that could suppress the value because Snapdragon put another 30 on top of their £70million shirt sponsor to make it a round number.”
“I think the stadium naming rights could be worth probably £50m a year in their own right. So if other companies get involved in that, then you’ve got a misalignment of brand. So Snapdragon might say that they need that, and we’ll do a £150m deal for shirt and stadium naming rights.”
“You could see it go up a little bit higher, but somewhere in the region of about £50m per season, they’d want something long-term. So that’s £500m over ten years.”
Wilson pointed out that renaming an iconic stadium, as Barcelona did with the Spotify Camp Nou, can provoke a backlash. However, by adopting a strategy similar to those of their rivals—such as Man City’s Etihad Stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium—United could sidestep such controversy.
Dr. Wilson thinks Snapdragon could be an especially wise partner choice. As a subsidiary of the US tech giant Qualcomm, Snapdragon offers long-term stability similar to that provided by Etihad and Emirates.
He added: “What’s really clever about what United are currently doing is that Snapdragon are about to go on the next wave of their journey, which is all tied up in tech, which means that it has longevity as a brand in the same way that Arsenal with Emirates and Manchester City with Etihad went for emergent Middle Eastern airlines that have got these big growth trajectories.”
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