Manchester United pair McNair and Love sold to Sunderland; is Mourinho ignoring youth talent again?

New Black Cats boss David Moyes was a known admirer of the defensive duo and has moved quickly to bring in the two 21-year-olds on four-year deals.

The combined fee is reportedly £5.5 million.

“Paddy is a young, athletic player who is improving all the time,” former United manager Moyes said in an official statement.

“He has experience for Northern Ireland and we want to bring as many international players to the club as we can."

Scotland under-21 international Love, who can play at full-back or in midfield, made his senior debut for Manchester United last season, playing in both the Premier League and Europa League while also enjoying a successful spell on loan at Wigan Athletic.

“Donald comes highly recommended and is another young player who I hope can develop and improve here.”

"I want to add some young players to the squad as well as some senior players and both of them have got really good potential and the opportunity to improve," added Moyes, who signed Senegal defender Papy Djilobodji from Chelsea on Friday.

The pair will team up with the Sunderland squad ahead of the club's opening Premier League fixture of the season, against Manchester City on Saturday 13 August.

Worrying signs for Manchester United? Before his arrival at Old Trafford, critics warned that Jose Mourinho's appalling record in bringing through young talent would undermine one of the few achievements of the Louis van Gaal era - namely, the flourishing of stars from the youth set-up.

Mourinho denied the allegations, pooh-poohing them with a nebulous claim that he'd brought 49 youth players through in his career.

That protest didn't convince Chelsea fans, considering the Special One's poor judgement over players such as Kevin de Bruyne - and it's unlikely to convince United fans now. Especially given that Adanan Januzaj, the brightest emerging talent of the Moyes era at United, also seems certain to be offloaded this summer.