Man Utd flop Higginbotham BLASTS Premier League youth players

With the development of academies throughout the English game over the years, youngsters after being offered lucrative deals before they've even reached the first team. Something Higginbotham feels is damaging up-and-coming players. 

“Young players get too much, too soon now," he told the Manchester Evening News. 

“You see lads get to 18 and they are on big, big contracts and I am talking about players who have never played for the first team but at 18 are signing a four-year deal. 

“Towards the end of my career young pros were coming up to me and asking what car do you drive, what watch have you got?

“I would never have gone to senior players and asked those kind of questions. 

“When I was a kid at United I would sit and listen to the experienced pros. 

“I was like a sponge gathering knowledge. It was nothing to do with money."

After spending the start of his career with United, Higginbotham struggled to make an impact in the first team, only making four appearances under Sir Alex Ferguson. 

He was later sold to Derby in 2000 after spending six years at the club. 

And as Higginbotham admits, he wasn't up to standard to carve a regular starting spot in the squad.  

“I wasn’t good enough. Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t sell players if they were good enough," he said. 

However, he went on to play for Southampton, Sunderland and Stoke during his career. 

During his time at the United youth set up, the  Gibraltar international was required to do clean the first-team squad's boots – something he thinks current youngsters should be doing now. 

“I used to love cleaning football boots as an apprentice," he said.  “I used to clean Roy Keane and Brian McClair’s boots.  I used to tell my mates and they were really jealous of me. 

“I used to get Roy’s hand-me-downs and I couldn’t wait to wear them because Roy had worn them."