For all of Manchester United's mistakes this season, sending a select number of their young players on loan to Championship clubs has not been one of them.
Ethan Laird, Di'Shon Bernard, James Garner and Tahith Chong were all sent out on loan in the summer transfer window, joining Swansea City, Hull City, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City respectively, and have all — so far — benefited enormously in one way or another.
The Championship, unlike the Premier League, is a much more wide-open battle, with anyone capable of beating anyone and the unpredictability about making so special, and very useful in any young player's development, both physically and mentally.
But if the Championship has proven anything in recent years, it is that it has all of the necessary ingredients to turn young footballers into men quite quickly.
Just ask Chelsea.
The 2018/19 season saw the Blues send a plethora of their young players out on loan to Championship clubs, including Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Trevoh Chalobah, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham, the latter of whom had experienced life in the Championship already in 2016/17 with Bristol City.
Although Tomori and Abraham have since departed Stamford Bridge, swapping west London for life in Italy with AC Milan and Roma respectively, their loan spells in the second tier were the making of them, as it also proved for James, Chalobah and Mount, who all now find themselves as key components of Thomas Tuchel's plans.
Prior to those spells in the Championship, the likes of James and Mount were complete unknowns to most of English football, with the latter having only previously spent time on loan in the Netherlands and James having been restricted to academy football. Between them, the 2018/19 season saw them rack up 80 Championship appearances, score 11 goals and grab eight assists.
To say they excelled would be an understatement.
With Chelsea having set out a perfect blueprint and pathway for youngsters to make the step-up from youth football to Premier League fame, United could quite easily explore the same avenue, especially now that interim manager Ralf Rangnick has already shown his willingness to give youth an opportunity to impress.
Therefore, the likes of Laird — who has recently swapped Swansea for Bournemouth, joining the Cherries on loan for the remainder of the season, following a string of outstanding performances across the border — Bernard, Garner, Chong and now Teden Mengi (who recently joined Birmingham) will be hoping that they can benefit in the same way as Chelsea's youngsters of the past.
Every club, of course, is different and no two scenarios are the same, but Chelsea have proven that with the right approach and methods, youngsters can make the grade at first-team level at their parent club, as opposed to being stuck in Under-23s football for years on end.
Laird has thrived in a wing-back role for Swansea this season, suggesting he could be a long-term answer to United's right-back conundrum, just as James has proven to be at Chelsea.
Bernard, despite playing for a Hull side flirting with relegation, has gone from strength to strength this season, adapting well to Championship-level football, earning plenty of plaudits from boss Grant McCann. Although he is only 21 and has a lot of barriers to break down, United's defensive vulnerability this season — and the long-term futures of the likes of Eric Bailly and Axel Tuanzebe — could play into his hands and Mengi's.
Garner, reunited with former England Under-17s boss Steve Cooper, in his second spell at Nottingham Forest, is continuing to flourish in central-midfield. He is held in very high regard by those at Old Trafford and is considered as one of the most exciting talents on United's books.
Considering Forest are threatening to break into the play-offs, adding a promotion to his CV could only bolster his chances of breaking onto the scene regularly at Old Trafford in the near future.
Although Chong lit up the Championship in his first few weeks as a Birmingham player, his progression was derailed by a serious injury issue in November, threatening to bring his season to a premature end. However, he is making significant progress in his recovery, meaning he will hope to return before too long. Manager Lee Bowyer is a big fan.
Although his pathway to the United first-team may be more harder to plot than those of Garner and Laird, Chong remains a player with terrific potential and undisputed talent.
Of course, not all of the careers of players who start their journeys at England's elite-level clubs make the grade, but Chelsea — who have also benefited from sending the likes of Marc Guehi and Conor Gallagher to the Championship in the past — have shown that it is possible if the correct decisions are made.
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