Mourinho said I’d be a ‘top player’ for Manchester United – but now I’m playing against YouTubers at 28

There are plenty of young prospects who have failed to make the grade at Manchester United – but few, perhaps, whose career started brightly only for them to fall out of professional football entirely by the age of 28 and to find themselves managed by a full-time YouTuber.

That, however, is what has happened in the case of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, who made 10 Premier League appearances for the Red Devils in the 2015/16 season and was described as a “top player” by José Mourinho, but whose career fell of rapidly after a promising start.

Now, still 18 months shy of his 30th birthday, Borthwick-Jackson has turned to the Baller League to revive his career. But how did a player who seemed set for such a bright career end up playing on streaming platforms instead of in stadiums?

What happed to Manchester United’s Cameron Borthwick-Jackson?

Borthwick-Jackson was only 18 when he made his first appearance for Manchester United under Louis van Gaal, called up to the senior side due to an injury crisis. He was already an England youth international, however, and acquitted himself well enough to earn a total of 14 appearances in all competitions across the course of the season.

Van Gaal praised Borthwick-Jackson’s performances, telling the media that he was “impressed” by the young left-back, and his successor José Mourinho seems have to have rated him highly, too.

“I speak to [Mourinho] all the time,” Borthwick-Jackson told FourFourTwo at the time. "He's always keeping eyes on me… he said: 'The squad's a bit too big but I see a future for you here' and that I'm a 'top player'.”

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As Mourinho’s comments suggested, Borthwick-Jackson was sent out on loan to continue his development – first to Wolves and Leeds United in the Championship, and then later to a string of teams in League One and League Two. As that trajectory suggests, the loan spells did not go well.

Often, when a youngster fails to cut the mustard despite proving themselves capable early on, injuries are to blame. That wasn’t the case here, however, and nor are there any apparent reasons to suggest that off-field issues impinged upon his career. He simply fizzled out.

Permanent moves to Oldham Athletic and Burton Albion offered regular first-team football in the third and fourth tiers, at least, but a move to Polish side Slask Wrocław in 2023 fell flat, and a year later Borthwick-Jackson was out of a contract and out of the game at just 27 years old. He hasn’t played since 2024, with little apparent reason for such a steep fall from grace.

Will Borthwick-Jackson’s career be revived by the Baller League?

Even if Borthwick-Jackson can’t find a traditional club to play for, however, he has found himself a team this month – in the second season of the Baller League, the streamer-led six-a-side competition which launched its UK edition in April and watched by hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Helmed by popular content creator KSI and featuring teams which include a combination of former academy prospects, retired pros and non-league players (which this year includes Joleon Lescott, Henri Lansbury and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, following the latter’s release from prison), Borthwick-Jackson’s involvement not only offers some immediate paid employment but also the chance to showcase his talents in the hope of getting a second chance in the professional game.

Borthwick-Jackson has been drafted to the M7 FC team alongside Emmanuel-Thomas and will be managed by YouTuber Minimeter, while other teams are being coached by big-name former and current players such as John Terry and Chloe Kelly.

It’s a far cry from Old Trafford, perhaps, but it can’t go much worse than his stint in Poland, given that he only managed to play three matches for Slask before they decided to move him on.

Borthwick-Jackson will never live up to the expectations of Van Gaal, Mourinho or the England coaches who picked him through the age groups all the way up to England Under-20 level – but perhaps he can at least prove that he’s still got what it takes to play in the EFL, where his career was progressing steadily before his ill-fated move to the Ekstraklasa.