Bengaluru, March 2: Manchester United look to have changed their transfer policy under the guidance of manager Ole Gunnar Solslkjaer who has been keen to recruit young talent over big names.

All of his transfers so far have been likewise. The latest recruit Bruno Fernandes may have arrived from a bigger side Sporting Lisbon in January but the likes Aaron Wan-Bissaka who joined from Crystal Palace and Daniel James who was signed following his strong displays in the Championship for Swansea City, are the prime examples of the vision of the Norway boss.

The Old Trafford side now look to add more such names to assemble a squad with a long term project in mind and it has now led them to be linked with a new name, Stoke City's 18-year-old young defender Nathan Collins.

According to the Sun, Manchester United are interested in the young Irish defender and one of their scouts is regularly tracking his progress. It is also claimed that he has been personally recommended by former United player Darren Fletcher who was a part of Stoke City till last year before his retirement this season.

Here are a couple of things about him:

1) Collins joined Stoke in June 2017 from Irish club Cherry Orchard and has been with the club ever since. He made his debut last season playing three games and became Stoke's youngest starter since 1997. This season he has seen his game time rapid increasingly with him already registering 12 appearances so far.

2) Collins also became the youngest captain in Stoke City's 156-year history when he led the Potters to victory in the Carabao Cup against Wigan Athletic just in his fifth appearances.

3) Collins is yet to make his international debut for Ireland in the senior set-up but was named in the preliminary squad for their matches against New Zealand and Denmark in November.

4) Primarily a centre-half who likes to play on the right side of the field, Collins, however, seems to be comfortable on playing out of the back, though he can also control the defensive line.

5) The young defender comes from a footballing family. His dad David played for Oxford United and was once on Liverpool's books as a teenager. He also played alongside Roy Keane for Ireland under-21s. His grandad was also a professional footballer in Ireland while his uncle and agent Eamonn Collins was an Ireland youth captain and went on to play for Colchester.