Fergie: Barca have advantage with academy players

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes Barcelona have a huge advantage with the rising stars of football.

English law states that young academy players can train up to an hour and a half a day, whilst our Spanish counterparts can train their young apprentices as long as they wish.

Fergie said “People have to understand the mechanics of the industry we’re working in,” he told MUTV.

“We are only allowed to coach youngsters for an hour and a half, they [Barcelona] can coach every hour of the day if they want to. That’s the great advantage they’ve got and they have a fantastic philosophy.

“We hope that in years to come our coaches will be able to spend more time with young kids, to teach them the basics, the technical abilities and the confidence to keep the ball all the time.

"We’re good at it but we’re not as good as Barcelona at this moment in time. It’s a wonderful challenge. We should always accept a challenge.”