meet the academy star promoted by Jose Mourinho who is set to face Man United

'It was crazy' - meet the academy star promoted by Jose Mourinho who is set to face Man United

Tyrell Warren will finally take to the same pitch as Man United nine years after he came close to doing so under Jose Mourinho.

United's youth team lines up in Belgrade, February 2018

Scott McTominay and Angel Gomes are the most celebrated academy debutants under Jose Mourinho at Manchester United but they were not the first two names on his lips.

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In one of Mourinho's first chats as United manager, he namechecked another future graduate, Axel Tuanzebe, who could come up against his former club with Burnley on Saturday.

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The other is poised to play against United for Grimsby Town on Wednesday night. "I think I should be playing," Tyrell Warren says, hopefully.

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Warren was part of Mourinho's first training squad at United back in July 2016. The right back was 17 at the time and yet to make his first start for the Under 21s.

"It was mad, to be fair, it was crazy," Warren says over the phone. "I didn’t really expect it. I came back from summer and (academy head) Nicky Butt said I was with the first team, which I was a bit surprised with. But I just had to go out and train and show what I can do."

Mourinho suggested Warren would travel to Wigan Athletic for his first match in charge, a pre-season friendly. Ultimately, there was no space for Warren on the bench at the DW Stadium. His memories of training under Mourinho and Rui Faria are still vivid.

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"It was good, I enjoyed it," he recalled. "It was about two weeks before the first game against Wigan but I learnt a lot from Mourinho and the players, the tempo of training, how hard you’re training. And I just took that back to the youth team and tried to do that in the training sessions with them."

Mancunian Warren, now 26, spent 14 years in the United academy. He was first spotted playing for Chorlton St Griffins at the age of "six or seven" and signed for the club's under 9s. Warren was a fast riser, playing in the Milk Cup at 15 in 2014 and debuting for the reserves at the age of 17 in 2016.

He played a small but key role in the Under 21s' 2015-16 title triumph. Back when Louis van Gaal ordered fringe first team players to drop down to the reserves, Warren trained with Adnan Januzaj and Andreas Pereira.

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Warren Joyce, the second string's manager, was renowned for turning boys into men through unforgiving methods. "He was tough," Warren admits. "He’d get you physically and mentally strong.

Warren poses for United's Youth Cup tie against QPR in December 2015

"I was a younger player in the academy, you’re training with all the reserves. His philosophy is don’t be scared of anyone, just battle them and that’s how I play my game. Just no fear really, that comes from training with Warren."

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When Warren was 15, he took his seat on the far right of the front row and posed for the annual class photo at Carrington in July 2014. Inexplicably, the picture was not published for six years. It has aged well.

Among the line-up are McTominay, Axel Tuanzebe, Dean Henderson, Demetri Mitchell, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Joe Riley and Marcus Rashford. All went on to play for United.

United's class of 2014

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There are other familiar faces. Jimmy Dunne has played more than 100 times for Queens Park Rangers, Ollie Rathbone is also playing in the Championship for Wrexham, Devonte Redmond was at the Racecourse Ground for the start of the Reynolds and McElhenney era while Callum Gribbin was a talked-about prodigy.

Warren remains close with Rashford, so much so he was part of his inner circle that trained and holidayed together in Cannes over the summer. Rashford went to watch Warren play for Barrow three years ago.

"There were obviously a few of us at the time, all the same ages, all from Manchester, from the same area in Manchester, playing for the same local teams in that area and district," Warren recalls, "so it was easy to get on with each other and get to know each other.

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"He (Rashford)’s been to a few of my games with the rest of my mates and it’s interesting to see he’ll still come and watch with his mates. He’s not forgotten about friendship and it’s all about friendship."

Warren is confident Rashford will regain the world-class form he displayed for United three seasons ago on loan at Barcelona. "Yeah, definitely. He's capable of getting back to that level. Everyone in the world knows what he can do and I’m sure he’ll show everyone in the world this season what he can do."

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This week's League Cup tie is a sentimental reward for Warren, who admits he fell out of love with football after he left United in 2019. "It’s like, where now? United’s such a big club and so high up you can only really go down. I went to a few places where it wasn’t really working out. There were a few knockbacks and I just found love by playing football again."

Warren celebrates scoring against Basel in the Uefa Youth League in November 2017

After an unfulfilling year at Salford City, he plied his trade in non-league for a couple of years until a breakthrough move to Football League side Barrow in 2022. When United visited Holker Street for an EFL Trophy early into the season, Warren entered the boardroom to reunite with academy head Nick Cox and club stalwarts Tony Whelan, Dave Bushell and Eamon Mulvey. The small gesture meant a lot to Cox.

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Warren joined Grimsby in 2024 and the Mariners just missed out on a play-off spot last season. They have made an unbeaten start to the campaign as they prepare for United's first visit to Blundell Park since 1948.

So how did Warren, a boyhood United fan, react to the second-round draw? "The funny thing is I was sleeping when the draw happened!" he chuckles. "Two of my teammates ran into my room and told me we’d got United at home and woke me up. Then I told my mum, told my family that we got United.

"My mum was very happy because my mum and dad used to take me everywhere when I was a young kid, to training. They’re happy for me to get the opportunity to play against United."

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