Former Manchester United starlets Adnan Januzaj and James Wilson failed to fulfil their potential at Old Trafford.
That's according to Warren Joyce, the former United reserves manager who oversaw the development of several Red Devils superstars past and present.
Belgium international Januzaj, who is now playing in Spain with Real Sociedad, struggled at United despite a very promising breakthrough in 2013, which saw him hailed as the next big thing.
Wilson, meanwhile, never quite lived up to the hype despite announcing himself to the Old Trafford faithful with a debut brace against Hull.
And Joyce, who is now working for Class of 92-owned Salford City, believes the pair will look back on their United spells with regret.
“I see the talk of Januzaj not fulfilling his potential but we lost a little bit of control of the loan system, at one stage,” Joyce told The Athletic .
“For Januzaj and James Wilson, another top player, it was more about recovering the wages. They were put on loan when they weren’t fit and you knew they were gonna fail.
“Now, the club got returns back but they didn’t develop the players. It is not all their fault, because they were good players. Januzaj was as skilful a player as I’ve ever seen.
"And Wilson, if you are looking at a pure finisher, he was probably more natural than Marcus (Rashford) even.”
While Joyce feels the players could have given more during their time in Manchester, he also criticised United for their part in their failed spells.
“It is sad to see those two didn’t hit the heights they should have done,” added Joyce. “Everybody criticised the players but they could have had better help than they got.
"You could say they have got to be mentally tougher. But we knew that they were works in progress at that time.
"They were naturally talented, but they weren’t like the mentality of Matty James, or Oliver Norwood, or James Chester, or Jonny Evans, or Danny Simpson."
