Manchester United Transfer News: Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Kids Reportedly in Academy

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's two kids, Max and Vincent, have reportedly joined Wayne Rooney's son, Kai, in the Manchester United academy. 

According to Daniel Cutts in the Sun, the Swedish striker has placed 10-year-old Max and eight-year-old Vincent in the Red Devils development squad.

A United source said, per Cutts:

"

The hope at the club is some of their dad’s talent has rubbed off on the youngsters.

Manchester United are known for their youth development, and this is just another stride towards finding stars of the future.

United have some of the best youth coaches in the world, and the players know they’re in the right place.

"

The Sun's Jake Ryan reported last week that six-year-old Kai Rooney had been training with United's youth team for several weeks, alongside Michael Carrick's son, Jacey, at the club’s old Cliff training ground in Salford.

The youngsters are not contracted to the club and merely take training sessions with the United coaches, but success over the years could see players eventually awarded professional deals.

United have historically been the envy of British football because of their youth system, which produced the likes of Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and David Beckham—the so-called Class of '92—in the 1990s.

Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

Sir Alex Ferguson guided a side dominated by academy graduates to an historic treble in 1999.

However, in recent years, neighbours and arch-rivals Manchester City have led the way as they have pumped money into their academy, while United's has been neglected, per Neil Ashton in the Daily Mail.

As a result, the Sky Blues have been hoovering up the best young talent in the area, with former United players Phil Neville, Robin van Persie and Darren Fletcher all having opted to send their kids to City over the Red Devils in the past.

However, per Cutts, "United have conducted a major revamp of their youth structure, scouting and facilities in the last 12 months."

Ibrahimovic's sons are two of the latest intake, and the Old Trafford outfit will be hopeful they can produce another set of exciting youngsters in the future.