DARREN FLETCHER’S twin sons are following in their father’s footsteps at Manchester United.
SunSport paid a visit to the West Country where United’s kids, including Jack Fletcher, were dumped out of the FA Cup by Swindon Town on Tuesday night.
GettyJack Fletcher could be fast-tracked into Manchester United’s first-team[/caption]
Tyler Fletcher has also impressed for United’s youth teamGetty
AlamyErik ten Hag is an admirer of the Fletcher twins[/caption]
The shock result was a blip in what has been a red-hot season for Adam Lawrence’s Red Devils, who are the current best youth side in the country.
They have picked up the slack from the seniors this season and sit pretty at the top of the U18’s Premier League, above Manchester City and Liverpool.
They have won all 11 of their league games and scored the most goals (37) and conceded the fewest (11).
The beating heart of the U18’s’ success has been Jack, son of Darren, who was nearly on target at Swindon on Tuesday night and a born leader on and off the pitch.
Ten Hag has even been left “wowed” by Jack, and promoted him to train with the first team ahead of their Champions League clash with Galatasaray last month.
Sources close to the club say the former Ajax boss is keen to “fast-track” Fletcher’s progress, meanwhile his brother Tyler has only made five appearances across all competitions this season.
At international level the teenagers have already played both WITH and AGAINST each other – despite being born within minutes of each other.
The twins, who turn 17 in March, both play in the middle of the park just like their old man – who has been keeping a close eye on them now he is technical director at the club.
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Jack and Tyler are both eligible to represent Scotland and England – and initially opted to follow their dad’s lead as they turned out for Scotland’s U16s.
The brothers played on the same team in three matches – against Denmark, Wales and Ireland – in the autumn of 2022.
Jack then got called up by England’s U16s and the two nations faced off in February 2023 – with the Fletcher twins on opposite teams as Jack’s England ran out 3-0 winners.
But just two months later, they played together for England as the Young Lions won the Montaigu Tournament in France.
Then in October, Tyler reverted back to play for Scotland in their U17 Euro 2024 qualifiers against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey while Jack missed out on the England U17 World Cup squad.
There have been suggestions he too may switch his allegiance north of the border once again to link up with his twin.
Much has changed at United’s academy and it was around the time of a 9-0 hammering by Man City’s U15s in November 2016 that Jack and Tyler decided their immediate future would be best served at those noisy neighbours.
United had to raise their game at youth level and the gap to City that was widening at a worrying rate has reduced, even if there is plenty of work still to do.
One of the differences is Jack and Tyler making the move to United for £1.25million in the summer.
Darren, ultimately, took a back seat during the process and was clear from the outset that he would not be dictating to his 16-year-old sons what they had to do.
Across 12 years in the first team, Fletcher helped the Red Devils win five Premier Leagues, an FA Cup, the League Cup, the Club World Cup and the Champions League and now his boys could follow suit.