Man Utd's kids welcome Carrick's youth commitment

[Getty Images] Manchester United boss Michael Carrick was watching academy training sessions at Carrington the week before the senior players returned for pre-season training. There has been a renewed commitment to youth development at United on and off the pitch in recent months. Off it, they are reinforcing their talent pool by committing £8m to bring in promising England youth international Tynan Thompson from Tottenham . On it, Carrick, whose son Jacey has been confirmed as a first-year scholar this season, has been spending time assessing the development of players at under-21 and under-18 level. In Helsinki on Saturday, he fielded an entirely academy-produced side in the second half of the pre-season game against Wrexham and roughly the same group of players will be involved against Rosenborg in Trondheim on Friday. "It's really important," said Jacob Devaney, who skippered United's Under-21s last season before spending the second half of the campaign on loan at Scottish Premiership outfit St Mirren . "We speak about it as a group. It's great to have Michael there at the games, and even when we were in training a week before the first team, I think he was out at every session with the staff. "It's nice that he has knowledge of what you're doing and he's obviously not afraid to throw the youth in. He's shown that last year. "It's positive to have someone like him in the building."