Erik ten Hag has lauded the role that Manchester United technical director Darren Fletcher plays in overseeing the progress of the club's loan stars behind the scenes.
Fletcher enjoyed a storied playing career at Old Trafford before taking up a non-playing role with the club back in 2020. After initially returning as an Under-16 coach, Fletcher then had a short two-month spell coaching the first-team before being moved into his current position.
He did return to the dugout during Ralf Rangnick's interim reign, but the former Scottish international has taken a back seat since Ten Hag was appointed last summer.
The Dutchman has revealed that Fletcher still wields great influence behind the scenes, though, while discussing the progression plan for Amad: the 20-year-old winger who has flourished in the Championship on loan at Sunderland this term.
“We loan such players to let them develop and make progress. To bring them back... that is the aim of a loan,” Ten Hag said on Friday.
“We are really strong on them on the matter of the way we mentor them, and so we follow them and we have communication through all the season, especially Darren Fletcher. He invests a lot in such processes and the aim is to bring them back as a better player and with better experience.”
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Ten Hag's comments come less than 12 months after it was claimed he snubbed transfer advice from Fletcher, who had urged the Old Trafford chief to make former Stoke City defender Nathan Collins one of his signings.
Instead, Ten Hag launched a raid on his former club, Ajax, to snap up Lisandro Martinez. Collins would get his big Premier League move after Wolves swooped for his services.
Question marks over Fletcher's role at the club first emerged last year when Rangnick claimed that he "didn't really know" what the Scotsman's official remit was. He did, however, stress that it was good to have him around.
Fletcher moved to clear up those claims at a fans' forum shortly after Rangnick's comments. He explained: “With Ralf and his staff coming in, and Michael [Carrick] and Kieran [McKenna] choosing to move on, we had a quick transition process, so part of my role has been to assist with that, both on the training pitch and during games.
“I guess that’s been the most visible part for me this season, but that’s really an addition to my overall technical director role.
“Probably the key part of the role is taking a holistic view of the path for players from our academy to our first team. That pipeline of academy talent is a massive part of who we are as a club.”
