England U19 starlet James has put pen to paper on a two-year contract, as we revealed back in February. The 17 year-old midfielder was one of the outstanding performers in United’s youth setup last season, captaining the U18s for the first half of the campaign before seamlessly making the transition to reserve regular after Christmas, bagging ten goals in total.
Centre-half Gill has made 35 appearances for the academy over the last two seasons whilst also continuing his studies. Having broken into the reserve side last season, he will now move up into Ole Solskjaer’s squad on a permanent basis in his first full-time campaign. Wootton, meanwhile, has been offered pro forms after just one year at the club, testament to how well he settled in after arriving from Liverpool last summer. The 17 year-old was a fixture at the heart of the U18s defence, only missing two games all term.
While those three are the only players to have thus far been confirmed by the club as having turned pro, Oliver Norwood, Joe Dudgeon and Cameron Stewart are all expected to follow suit in the coming days. All three were U18 stalwarts last season during the second year of their scholarships and forced their way into the reserve setup on a regular basis, and will be expected to push on and establish themselves in the second string this time around.
