Manchester United Football Club Under-23s is the most senior of Manchester United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. They play in the Premier League 2, the highest tier of the Professional Development League. The team is effectively Manchester United's second-string side, but is limited to three outfield players and one goalkeeper over the age of 23 per game following the introduction of new regulations from the 2016–17 season, an increase from the age of 21 which was introduced in 2012–13.
They were champions of the former Premier Reserve League five times (in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012) between its introduction in 1999 and its dissolution in 2012. The team also won the 2012–13 Professional U21 Development League 1 in its inaugural season, and again in 2015 and 2016. The team also participates in the Manchester Senior Cup and the Lancashire Senior Cup.
The team's manager is currently Ricky Sbragia, who had previously been manager between 2002–2005. Sbragia took over from Nicky Butt, an academy graduate in the 1990s who played for United until 2004. Butt held the role on an interim basis for the 2016–17 season after Warren Joyce was appointed Wigan Athletic manager on 2 November 2016. Joyce, who took over from Ole Gunnar Solskjær as manager of the reserves in December 2010, was previously the manager of Royal Antwerp, Manchester United's feeder club in Belgium.