Premier League

DARREN FLETCHER’S twin sons are following in their father’s footsteps at Manchester United.SunSport paid a visit to the West Country where United’s kids, including Jack Fletcher, were dumped out of the FA Cup by Swindon Town on Tuesday night.
Jack Fletcher could be fast-tracked into Manchester United’s first-teamCredit: Getty
Tyler Fletcher has also impressed for United’s youth teamCredit: Getty
Erik ten Hag is an admirer of the Fletcher twinsCredit: Alamy
The shock result was a blip in what has been a red-hot season for Adam Lawrence’s Red Devils, who are currently the best youth side in the country.
They have picked up the slack from the seniors this season and sit pretty at the top of the U18’s Premier League, above Manchester City and Liverpool.
They have won all 11 of their league games and scored the most goals (37) and conceded the fewest (11).
The beating heart of the U18’s’ success has been Darren’s lad Jack, a born leader on and off the pitch who was nearly on target at Swindon.
READ MORE ON MAN UTD
Ten Hag has even been left “wowed” by Jack, and promoted him to train with the first team ahead of their Champions League clash with Galatasaray last month.
Sources close to the club say the former Ajax boss is keen to “fast-track” Fletcher’s progress, meanwhile his brother Tyler has only made five appearances across all competitions this season.
At international level the teenagers have already played both WITH and AGAINST each other – despite being born within minutes of each other.
The twins, who turn 17 in March, both play in the middle of the park just like their old man – who has been keeping a close eye on them now he is United technical director.
Most read in Football
Jack and Tyler are both eligible to represent Scotland and England – and initially opted to follow their dad’s lead as they turned out for Scotland’s U16s.
The brothers played on the same team in three matches – against Denmark, Wales and Ireland – in the autumn of 2022.
Jack then got called up by England’s U16s and the two nations faced off in February 2023 – with the Fletcher twins on opposite teams as Jack’s England ran out 3-0 winners.
But just two months later, they played together for England as the Young Lions won the Montaigu Tournament in France.
Then in October, Tyler reverted back to play for Scotland in their U17 Euro 2024 qualifiers against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey while Jack missed out on the England U17 World Cup squad.
There have been suggestions he too may switch his allegiance north of the border once again to link up with his twin.
Much has changed at United’s academy and it was around the time of a 9-0 hammering by Man City’s U15s in November 2016 that Jack and Tyler decided their immediate future would be best served at those noisy neighbours.
United had to raise their game at youth level and the gap to City that was widening at a worrying rate has reduced, even if there is plenty of work still to do.
One of the differences is Jack and Tyler making the move to United for £1.25million in the summer.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Darren, ultimately, took a back seat during the process and was clear from the outset that he would not be dictating to his 16-year-old sons what they had to do.
Across 12 years in the first team, Fletcher helped the Red Devils win five Premier Leagues, an FA Cup, the League Cup, the Club World Cup and the Champions League and now his boys could follow suit. More

SEAN DYCHE has questioned why the Premier League keep coming for Everton.And the Goodison Park chief admitted he does not know if the latest charge will be the end of his club’s financial ordeal, asking: “Who knows what comes next?”
Sean Dyche does not understand why Everton are being continually punishedCredit: Reuters
Premier League chief exec Richard Masters defended the decision to hit Everton with a second charge of breaking profit and sustainability rules after a ten-point deduction.
Nottingham Forest also received their first charge on Monday for breaching the same financial rules — and both could be docked six points this time.
Yet Toffees boss Dyche insists his crisis-hit club have shown they were trying to do everything in their power to deal with the financial chaos that could now lead to a further points loss.
Bemused Dyche said: “It’s a bit of a tough one in my timeline of a year to take. It’s a strange situation to get an on-pitch sanction of ten points — which we’re still waiting on the appeal quite obviously.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
“There’s a lot going on here with the club trying to do the right thing.
“We have become the third-lowest in terms of net spends in my time here.
“We have sold top players we wanted to keep. Younger players have had to go when we wouldn’t want to let them go.
“We’ve already lost ten points while we’ve been cutting resources and so there has been no on-field advantage from our part, no on-field gain. But there has been an on-field sanction.”
Most read in Football
Dyche, who took over from axed Frank Lampard just under a year ago, is hoping that the Toffees’ appeal against breaking financial rules may at last lead to a cut.
He said: “There’s a lot of good work being done.
“I remember how PSR was about the protection of the clubs when it started and maybe it might all correct itself.
“I can’t get into all the minutiae of all the rules and regulations because I don’t know them.
“I’m just trying to give a common-sense view and a lot of the changes here are wrapped up in the last one. So who knows what happens now? Watch this space.”
Dyche spoke as details emerged of new problems facing prospective new owners 777 Partners, with Masters revealing their proposed £500million buy-out of majority owner Farhad Moshiri is still “weeks away” from any Prem go-ahead.
Three months after Moshiri agreed that deal Prem chiefs have still not seen audited accounts from the Miami-based company that has interests in a clutch of other companies around the world.
Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo admits he is “concerned” at the threat of a points deduction.
He added: “Ins and outs, we need to be careful and cautious about that because we don’t want to make any kind of decision before things are clear.” More

NEWCASTLE chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan is set to be hit by a £59million lawsuit after being accused of orchestrating a “malicious” campaign against a dissident former Saudi spy chief.Former intelligence chief Dr Saad Aljabri has claimed the Toon boss acted under the direct instructions of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in a bid to “destroy” him.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan is set to be hit with a £59million lawsuitCredit: Getty
Legal papers lodged at a Canadian court have asked for Al-Rumayyan to be added to an ongoing case in a move that puts Newcastle’s Saudi takeover under the spotlight once again.
In his brief to the court, Aljabri – a former top aide to Prince Mohammed bin Nayef who was deposed by MBS in a palace coup in 2017 – alleges Al-Rumayyan of being “directly” involved in a campaign against him.
Aljabri, who fled his homeland in 2017, has been credited by western intelligence officials for his work as a Saudi informant to the Five Eyes spy group which includes the UK.
He has been accused by a collection of Saudi-owned firms of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars of state funds while in his previous intelligence role, claims he strongly denies.
READ MORE ON FOOTBALL
But in response he is now claiming that Al-Rumayyan was one of the orchestrators of a campaign which included “wrongful kidnapping and detention”, “misappropriation of property” and the “expropriation” of companies worth millions of dollars, decisions taken for “political reasons” and at the service of MBS.
Legal papers were served on Al-Rumayyan at multiple high-profile locations including St James’ Park last week, according to The Athletic.
The revelation could cause further embarrassment for Prem chiefs after the £300m PIF takeover of Newcastle was waved through when the League said it had received “legally binding assurances” that Saudi Arabia’s government would not be in control of the club.
Last year, as part of a US court case surrounding the LIV golf tour, lawyers for Al-Rumayyan claimed immunity from giving evidence because he was “a sitting minister of the government” while PIF was a “sovereign instrument” of the state.
Most read in Football
In 2019, Aljabri claimed a six-man Saudi “hit squad” had been dispatched to murder him in Canada. All six were said to have been deported on landing.
In response to the allegations, the Saudi embassy in Washington DC declared Aljabri had a “long history of fabricating and creating distractions”.
But his son and daughter were arrested at their Riyadh home in 2020 and subsequently jailed on charges of financial crimes and conspiracy to escape the kingdom unlawfully.
They remain imprisoned and in their application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Aljabri family are seeking permission to bring a claim for damages for “abuse of process” and “unlawful means conspiracy” against defendants including PIF and Al-Rumayyan.
The suit alleges that “meetings and discussions” took place between July and September 2017 between MBS and Al-Rumayyan “to discuss how to create pressure on Aljabri.”
This led to the subsequent civil claims led by PIF.
Newcastle have been approached for comment. More