Not since the days of Sir Matt Busby had Manchester United produced a batch of players capable of turning out for the first team.
However, it became apparent quite quickly that the club's 1992 FA Youth Cup-winning side consisted of footballers with the potential to become part of Sir Alex Ferguson's plans in the future.
One of those was a certain David Beckham - a midfielder capable of playing either in the centre of the pitch or wide out on the right.
He had done enough in youth matches to capture Ferguson's attention and so four months later and on this very day, the 17-year-old was included in the senior United squad for their League Cup trip to Brighton & Hove Albion's Goldstone Ground.
As expected, the youngster started on the bench, but after Danny Wallace had put the away side 1-0 up, Ferguson turned to Beckham, handing him his debut as a replacement for winger Andrei Kanchelskis during the second half.
Soon after Matthew Edwards drew the Seagulls level and the score remained 1-1 until the final whistle, with United winning the second leg 1-0 at Old Trafford to reach the third round of the competition.
It was a relatively unremarkable debut by Beckham and he failed to earn another call-up to the first team until 1994, before he was loaned out to Preston North End.
Upon his return in 1995, though, the England youth international started to feature as a regular in the team, having been identified by Ferguson as an alternative for Kanchelskis, who had been sold to fellow Premier League side Everton that summer.
When he departed Old Trafford for Real Madrid in 2003, he did so having won the Premier League on six occasions, two FA Cups and one Champions League.
Liam Apicella
