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United released 15 players last summer - here's a look at where they are now.

Millen Baars didn't make the grade at United after joining from Ajax and left last year

Ander Herrera

Signed by Louis van Gaal for £29million in 2014, the Basque midfielder left United for PSG at the end of his contract.but Herrera has not been able to nail down a regular starting place under Thomas Tuchel, starting only six Ligue 1 games.

Injury has played a part, too, with the former Athletic Bilbao favourite having missed several weeks due to hamstring and thigh problems.

Antonio Valencia

Now in the twilight of his career, the Ecuadorian bid farewell to United 10 years after joining the club for £16million from Wigan Athletic.

A two-time Premier League winner, Valencia moved back to his native Ecuador with LDU Quito.

Since then, the right-back featured in Quito’s Copa Libertadores victory over 2018 champions River Plate.

James Wilson

Wilson joined Aberdeen last summer having spent the 2018/19 season at Pittodrie.

However, the striker failed to fire for the Dons and moved to Salford City on an 18-month contract in January.

The 24-year-old’s career with the League Two side started promisingly, too, with two goals on his debut in a 3-2 defeat by Plymouth Argyle, but couldn't add to that tally before the season was put on hold.

Regan Poole

With a solitary Europa League cameo to his name, Poole was not retained for the 2019/20 season.

After leaving Old Trafford, he joined MK Dons following the club’s promotion to League One.

And the Welshman has figured prominently under both Paul Tisdale and Russell Martin, making 19 appearances with MK Dons sitting 18th in the table.

Callum Whelan

After an unsuccessful loan spell at Port Vale, Whelan joined Watford following his release by United.

However, as he did at Vale Park, the 21-year-old central midfielder has struggled to make the matchday squad at Vicarage Road, with his two appearances both coming in the FA Cup.

Thomas Sang

Another player who failed to make the leap from the academy to the senior set-up at Old Trafford, Sang moved down a division to join Cardiff City.

The 20-year-old has yet to fully establish himself in Wales, though, making his debut in the club’s FA Cup penalty shootout defeat by Reading in February.

Zak Dearnley

Despite having previously caught the eye for United’s Under-23s, Dearnley left Old Trafford last summer without a senior appearance to his name.

After a trial with Rotherham United, he had a brief spell with non-league side New Mills before joining Oldham Athletic, with whom he had a loan stint in 2019, in January.

The winger has found success at Boundary Park, with four goals in eight games for the League Two outfit.

DJ Buffonge

Another to have starred at youth level for United, Buffonge joined Serie B side Spezia after trials with Derby County and Bolton Wanderers.

The midfielder has since dropped down another level, to Serie C, with Pergolettese on loan.

Tyrell Warren

At one stage considered a bright defensive prospect at United, Warren left in 2019 having struggled to sufficiently live up to his potential.

After an unsuccessful trial at Bolton, he joined Salford City before joining non-league Radcliffe in October.

Matty Willock

In the 2016/17 season, Willock was on the cusp of breaking into Louis van Gaal’s United side.

Twice an unused substitute in Premier League games, that was the closest the midfielder would get to fulfilling his dream of playing for the Reds.

After several loan spells during the last two years of his time at Old Trafford, Willock joined Gillingham last summer. He has made seven appearances for the League One side.

Matthew Olosunde

Having arrived from New York Red Bulls in 2016, Olosunde trained and travelled with Solskjaer’s first-team squad during the latter stages of the 2018/19 season before being released last summer.

The one-time United States international was quickly snapped up by Rotherham United, where he has been a hit, making 32 appearances this term..

Callum Gribbin

Once one of the highest-rated youngsters at United, injuries ravaged Gribbin’s progress before he failed to make 2019’s retained list.

However, he was handed a Premier League lifeline last summer by newly-promoted Sheffield United.

While he is yet to feature for the Blades’ first-team, the 21-year-old attacking midfielder still has time to prove his worth and kickstart his top-flight career.

Millen Baars

A much-hyped arrival from Ajax in 2017, Baars failed to make the grade at United before joining the long list of released players in 2019.

After several months without a club, Baars signed a two-year contract with AZ Alkmaar at the start of May.

Josh Bohui

Having honed his skills in the academies of Brentford and United, Bohui was released in 2019 having previously rejected a contract offer by the Old Trafford club.

The young forward decided to try and rejuvenate his career in the Netherlands with second-tier side NAC Breda.

James Thompson

The only goalkeeper on the list, Thompson was released after having featured for United’s Under-18s and has been without a club since leaving United in June 2019.

Good Morning, Nigeria, Welcome To News Roundup Of Top Newspaper Headlines In Nigeria For Today Friday, 15th May 2020

1. MTN SIM: Court Rules Against DSS, Clears Hanan Buhari

A Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, on Thursday ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay N10 million to Anthony Okolie.

Naija News recalls that Okolie was arrested in July 2019 in Asaba for using the previous phone line of President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter, Hanan.

2. School Feeding Programme Is A Scam By Buhari Govt – PDP

The President Muhammadu Buhari’s school feeding programme was on Thursday described by the Peoples Democratic Party as a big scam.

The main opposition party further stated that the programme even when schools are shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic was a scheme by the “corrupt All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders and some officials in the Buhari Presidency to siphon a targeted N13.5 billion public funds to finance their wasteful lifestyle.”

3. APC Deputy Chairman And Daughter Kidnapped In Kaduna State

The deputy chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna state, Shuaibu Idris, has been kidnapped.

Naija News gathered he was kidnapped alongside his daughter by gunmen from their residence located along Zaria-Kaduna road.

4. President Buhari Meets Security Chiefs, Others Over Insecurity

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari held an emergency meeting with the National Security Council and others on Thursday.

According to the Personal Assistant to the President on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, the meeting was attended by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Service Chiefs and other heads of security agencies.

5. Kano Govt Quarantines 2,000 Almajiri Children

The Kano State Government on Thursday quarantined 2000 almajiri children to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

This was made known by the Kano Commission for Health, Aminu Tsanyawa.

6. Atiku ‘Bombs’ Buhari Govt Over Revised 2020 Budget

Former Nigeria’s Vice President Atiku Abubakar has faulted the federal government’s 0.6% reduction in expenditure in the revised 2020 budget, describing it as “grossly insufficient”.

Atiku, a 2019 Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said cutting expenditure by a mere N71 billion from N10.594 trillion in the revised budget shows that President Muhammadu Buhari‘s administration has lost touch with “current realities in the global political economy.”

7. Lagos Assembly Confirms Sanwo-Olu’s Nominees, Rejects One

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday confirmed three nominees of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the State Audit Service Commission.

Naija News reports that the Lagos Assembly, however, rejected one of the five nominees sent to it by Sanwo-Olu, with one nominee absent.

8. Oyo Commissioner For Environment, Kehinde Ayoola Dies

The Oyo State Commissioner for Environment, Kehinde Ayoola is dead.

Naija News learned that the Oyo Commissioner for Environment died on Thursday morning, May 14.

9. Biafra: IPOB Rejects ‘Members’ Arrested By Police In Delta State

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has declared that the people recently arrested by the Nigeria Police Force in Delta State are not its members.

It will be recalled that nine suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were arrested by the Delta Police Command and AK-47 rifles recovered from them.

10. Borno Suspends COVID-19 Lockdown, Permits Religious Gathering

The Borno State Government has suspended the lockdown imposed on the state to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

Alhaji Umar Kadafur, the Deputy Governor of the state and Chairman of the state’s High-Powered Response Team for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 made this known in a statement on Wednesday.

So That's It......Enjoy!!!!

Long before Big Brother Naija had Nigerians glued to their TV screens, there were other reality competition shows that were loved – Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Idols West Africa, MTN Project Fame, Maltina Dance All and others. Nigerians were hooked on other reality shows.

And just as Big Brother Naija creates stars out of its contestants every season, music competition shows like Idols West Africa and MTN Project Fame gave Nigeria some of the stars in the entertainment industry today.

Idols West Africa (popularly known as Nigerian Idols) was the West African franchise of the international Idols series created by Simon Fuller, following the success of the series in other parts of the world. The singing competition debuted in 2007 with ten contestants, but it unfortunately was short lived with only two seasons.

MTN Project Fame had a successful run for nine seasons. The music reality show launched in 2008, and was hosted by Joseph Benjamin and Adaora Oleh. Winners of the competition were entitled to cash prizes, vehicles, and production deals. And also end up becoming ambassadors for the telecommunications company MTN.

These shows have produced some big names in the Nigerian music industry.

Omawumi – Omawumi was a contestant on Idol West Africa in 2007. She contested alongside Timi Dakolo and was the first runner up in the competition. Omawumi impressed the audience and the judges with her powerful vocals and has since the competition become a force to be reckoned with in the industry.

She has since released three albums and won the 2009 Headies Best Vocal Performance award for her hit single ‘In The Music’.

Omawumi in Idols West Africa

Timi Dakolo – The ‘Iyawo mi’ singer appeared on Idols West Africa in 2007 and emerged winner of the competition. While in the competition, Timi was consistently in the lead and it came as almost no surprise when he finally emerged victorious in the competition. Dakolo released his debut album Beautiful Noise in 2011 and has continued to build a successful career for himself since.

In 2019, the singer signed a Virgin EMI record deal and released his first album under the label, Merry Christmas Darling. The album featured collaborations with British singer-songwriter Emeli Sande and Grammy awards winner Kenny G. Some of Dakolo’s famous hits include Iyawo Mi, The Vow, Wish Me Well, among others.

Timi Dakolo winner of Idols West Africa Season One

Chidinma – Chidinma Ekile first appeared on the third season of MTN Project Fame in 2010. She won the competition as well as a cash prize of N2.5 million naira and a production deal. She released Chidinma, her debut studio album in 2011 that featured producers including Cobhams Asuquo, Tee-Y Mix, WazBeat and Oscar Heman Ackah.

Later that same year, Clarence Peters directed the visuals to Jankoliko, her single that featured Sound Sultan. In 2012, she released Emi ni Baller with Illbliss and Tha Suspect under CAPital Hill Records, which won the 2013 Headies award for Best Pop Extra Video.

In 2012, she won the Best Female West African Act at the Kora Award. She has appeared on several stages and performed in numerous countries across the world – Republic of Benin, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Niger and Ghana.

Chidinma Emerged Winner of the Third Season of MTN Project Fame

Iyanya – Iyanya won the first edition of the MTN Project Fame competition in 2008 and started out his career. He released My Story in 2009 after the competition, but it was in 2013, after the release of Kukure which was accompanied by the Etighi dance, a cultural Calabar dance that Iyanya hit national recognition.

In 2014, he won the Headies Artist of the year award. His album Desire and his hit single Ur Waist were also nominated in the same year. In 2016, Iyanya became one of the artists signed to the Mavin record deal. In 2018, he announced that he was now signed to Temple Music.

Niniola – The Maradona singer started off as a contestant on the sixth edition of MTN Project Fame in 2013. In 2014, she released Ibadi, her hit single produced by Sarz. It wasn’t until 2017 that she received wide acclaim for the release of Maradona. The single earned Nini nominations at the 2018 BET Awards and SAMAs.

In 2019, Niniola’s Maradona was sampled in Beyoncé’s ‘Find Your Way Back’, a song off her soundtrack album The Lion King: The Gift. Nini is also credited as one of the track’s songwriters and composers.

In April 2020, she received her Grammy nomination certificate for her work as a composer on The Lion King: The Gift. The singer known for her energetic live performances, has released hits like, Designer, Boda Sodiq, Omo Rapala and others.

Praiz – in 2008, Praiz came close to winning the first Edition of MTN Project Fame against Iyanya, coming second place. Since the competition, the R&B singer has released ‘Rich and Famous’ ‘Sisi’ and ‘I Love You’.

He combined forces with Bez on his 2011 single, ‘That Silly Song’, which made a world premiere on BET’s 106&Park.

In 2014, Praiz released his Rich & Famous album and in 2015, he won the Nigerian Entertainment Award for Best Pop/RnB Artist of the Year.

Praiz has been associated with acts like Wizkid, Chidinma, Seyi Shay, Cobhams and others.

Ayoola Ayolola – in 2012, Ayoola won the fifth edition of MTN Project Fame. He has transitioned from music into acting, since 2015, he has been appearing as Mide in the Ndani web series Skinny Girl in Transit. He has also featured in drama series The Men’s Club and landed roles in movies like – The Bling Lagosians, Isoken, If I Were President and others.

Below we have some images of well known celebrities taken when they were much younger. You probably won recognize them

Jay attended attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Downtown Brooklyn. He hung out in the school's cafeteria where he practiced rapping while pounding the tables and battled other students. Picture: Seth Poppel

Iggy Azalea looks barely recognisable in her high school picture! Going by the name Amethyst Amelia Kelly back then, the 'Fancy' rapper grew up in Mullumbimby, Australia, before later heading to the US in pursuit of her rapping dreams.

Nicki attended the prestigious LaGuardia High School in Manhattan where she initially planned to study music. However, she lost her voice on the day of the audition and ended up studying drama instead. She was known for sticking up for friends, occasionally getting into scraps to defend them. One former classmate said of her in an unauthorised biography that: "You could tell at LaGuardia what someone's major was based on their behaviour, and Nicki was definitely a drama major." Pic: Beyonce.com

Snoop was a golden child, he sung in Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church and was classically trained as a pianist. He begun rapping in sixth grade and towards the end of his time at Long Beach Polytechnic High School got into some trouble over cocaine possession. Picture: Idols/Photoshot

Drake dropped out of high school, ironically, to star in the high school TV series 'Degrassi: The Next Generation'. But he finally got his high school diploma in 2012 - aged 25 - after taking some time out to study with a private tutor. He scored an impressive 97% on his final test. Picture: octobersveryown.blogspot.co.uk

According to one biography, Will got his Fresh Prince stage name at high school. He was the class clown but was charming enough that he could get out of trouble. So his teachers nicknamed him "Prince", as in Prince Charming. He later added "Fresh" to it because, well, it sounded cool. Picture: Idols/Photoshot

From her 9th year of school at the Houston School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Beyoncé found fame during her high school years with Destiny's Child. Picture: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library.

The Game attended Compton High School. He was a natural sporting talent, earning a position as the point guard on the basketball team and later joining the track team. Picture: Yearbook

Tupac went to Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He acted in Shakespeare plays and even took on the role of the Mouse King in the ballet The Nutcracker. Unsurprisingly, he had already earned a reputation as a gifted rapper winning many competitions at school. Picture: Yearbook

50 was a talented boxer from a young age, competing in the Junior Olympics. During his senior years, he got into trouble for selling drugs and was sent to a boot camp, rather than prison, where he earned his high school qualification. Picture: Yearbook

Eminem didn't have a happy childhood and was reportedly once beaten up so badly in school, he spent over one week in a coma. Marshall went to Lincoln High School in Warren, Michigan but used to sneak into neighbouring school Osborn High for rap battles.

Puff attended the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Michael Academy in 1987. He was a skilled football player and his team even won the high school league. Picture: Yearbook

When asked about his high school days, Ye revealed that "I got A's and B's. And I'm not even frontin'." He attended Polaris High School in Illinois where from an early age he developed a talent for rap and musical compositions. His first rap song, which he wrote aged thirteen, was called 'Green Eggs and Ham'. He Picture: Seth Poppel

2 Chainz attended North Clayton High school in College Park, Georgia (where he was classmates with R&B singer Monica) and graduated second in his class. From there, he went on to Alabama State University. Picture: Yearbook

Pharrell was a member of his high school's marching band. He was discovered at a high school talent show, where he performed as The Neptunes, then a four-piece. Picture: Idols/Photoshot

Missy Elliott was actually moved up two grades in school because of her above average intelligence, graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1990.

Back in 1987, Cube famously wore jet black curled locks as a senior in high school at the Phoenix Institute of Technology. Soon after, his rap career took off with NWA and the rest is history!

It's hard to imagine Lil Wayne without his famous face tattoos but the rapper looked very different in 8th Grade of High School. Weezy went to McMain Magnet in his hometown of New Orleans.

Bray Wyatt has been part of two PPV cinematic bouts. One worked masterfully while the other was a huge swing and a miss.

The most talked-about “match” of WrestleMania 36 was the Firefly Fun House Match, wherein Bray Wyatt (and his alter ego The Fiend) subjected John Cena to a rundown of his own career (among other things) in an absurdist short film that involved numerous parodies of wrestling tropes and a Vince McMahon puppet. It was groundbreaking, but it wasn’t the first “cinematic” match Bray Wyatt was involved in.

At the 2017 Payback pay-per-view, Wyatt took on Randy Orton in a no-DQ bout called the House of Horrors Match, which started in a creepy house and ended at the arena. It was way less acclaimed than the Firefly Fun House Match, so let’s look at the two and evaluate why one works and the other doesn’t.

10 Firefly Fun House: Entirely Cinematic

The Firefly Fun House Match begins in the WWE Performance Center with a fake-out John Cena entrance before immediately transitioning into the actual Fun House and getting down to absurdist business. It’s a match that entirely depends on set dressing, editing, sudden costume changes and shifts in visual style to tell its story, thus justifying its “experimental” format. If they tried to do it with a live audience and Michael Cole and JBL talking over it, it wouldn’t be the same.

9 House of Horrors: Too Much of a “Real” Match

Despite all the creepy smash cuts to mangled dolls and dilapidated walls, House of Horrors is just two wrestlers having an Extreme Rules match with a different background -- all pummeling and throwing one another into furniture. What is the difference between this match and the Orton/Edge match at WrestleMania 36, besides length? It’s alright for what it is, but what leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth is that the competitors have to make their way back to the arena and win the match in the ring, giving the whole experience a watered-down feel.

8 Firefly Fun House: Perfectly Produced

With its myriad post-production tricks, stock sound effects, and use of worn-down old WWE props like the rusty blue steel cage bars and the old Smackdown set with the fist, the Firefly Fun House Match is a perfectly produced piece.

It all looks pretty great, except for the parts where it’s intentionally supposed to look not great, and makes superb use of one of the best production crews in pro wrestling to make something exceptionally weird for WWE. It’s like David Lynch was hired to make Southpaw Regional Wrestling.

7 House of Horrors: Not That Well-Produced

Aside from the aforementioned “disturbing” insert shots spliced into the footage, the House of Horrors Match isn’t as slick as it should be. It feels like the set designers did their best to dress a kind of crappy looking suburban house to look like something out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it’s hard to get past the presence of carpet (!) on the floors and an extremely normal kitchen where someone scrawled FOLLOW THE BUZZARDS or whatever on the fridge. Plus, it’s shot like a regular WWE backstage brawl, complete with trademark needlessly jerky camera movements and parts where you can see the cameraman’s shadow.

6 Firefly Fun House: Self-Aware

When it comes to tone, most WWE content is either deadly serious or a MadTV sketch. The Firefly Fun House is, to quote Bray Wyatt himself, “the color red in a world of black and white” thanks to its strong sense of self-awareness. It has more in common with something like the Final (or Ultimate) Deletion. The Firefly Fun House match is focused and has a serious intent, but also knows its execution is playful and silly.

5 House of Horrors: Not That Scary

There may be no commentary over the cinematic parts of the House of Horrors Match, but you can sort of feel the whole thing try to convince you that it’s a harrowing experience, like when vanilla commentators say stuff like “This is a truly disturbing display” when there’s a regular beatdown with a kendo stick happening on the entrance ramp. It may be because of WWE’s PG restrictions on content, but there’s nothing all that horrific about Bray Wyatt pushing a dirty refrigerator on top of a guy.

4 Firefly Fun House: Great Use of Character

The Firefly Fun House match may go down as one of the best kinds of things WWE’s ever produced thanks to its bold deconstruction of the John Cena character. In recent years, WWE’s come to acknowledge that Cena’s years on top of the company have turned him into a divisive figure, and here WWE finally embraces that by having Bray Wyatt use it all against him -- his dopey debut against Kurt Angle, his rapper gimmick, his often heelish behavior as a face -- all while comparing him to the biggest secret heel in wrestling history, Hulk Hogan.

Plus, the fact that John Cena’s promise to expose the most “overhyped” and “entitled” wrestler in WWE history turned out to be ultimately in reference to himself is an incredible revelation.

3 House of Horrors: Could Have Been Anyone

Bray Wyatt is such an all-time great wrestling villain because he’s not only a physical force but also a psychological threat whether or not you decide to buy into the supernatural powers. Randy Orton is a psychopath who’s closer to being a serial killer than he is to being John Cena. There’s a story to be told in having the theatrical Wyatt and the uncaring Orton clash, but the House of Horrors did not do that. As it is, you could have switched out Randy Orton for Roman Reigns and it would have been the same exact match.

2 Firefly Fun House: John Cena Lost -- Hard

The ending to the Firefly Fun House match is wild. After deconstructing John Cena’s entire wrestling persona for 15 minutes, The Fiend finally appears and takes him down with a Mandible Claw. The Fiend stands triumphant over Big Match John, and Cena simply vanishes, as if deleted in the Matt Hardy style. Cena hasn’t been seen on WWE television since and has hinted at retirement on social media. More than just a novelty match, it was a match that felt like it mattered because it was about the characters as much as it was an Adult Swim flavored spectacle.

1 House of Horrors: Did Not Affect Its Characters

Conversely, what was gained from the House of Horrors match? Bray Wyatt dominated in the cinematic portion and Randy Orton dominated in the in-ring portion -- that is, until the Singh Brothers and Jinder Mahal interfered, allowing Wyatt to hit a quick Sister Abigail for the pin. So ultimately, this elaborate horror movie cinematic match didn’t really accomplish anything narratively except to help Randy Orton pivot into a title feud with Jinder Mahal. That’s just regular WWE stuff, man.

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United released 15 players last summer - here's a look at where they are now.

Bray Wyatt has been part of two PPV cinematic bouts. One worked masterfully while the other was a huge swing and a miss.

10 Firefly Fun House: Entirely Cinematic

9 House of Horrors: Too Much of a “Real” Match

8 Firefly Fun House: Perfectly Produced

7 House of Horrors: Not That Well-Produced

6 Firefly Fun House: Self-Aware

5 House of Horrors: Not That Scary

4 Firefly Fun House: Great Use of Character

3 House of Horrors: Could Have Been Anyone

2 Firefly Fun House: John Cena Lost -- Hard

1 House of Horrors: Did Not Affect Its Characters

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