It was a transfer like no other at the time.

Manchester United once signed a nine-year-old footballer off the back of seeing his compilation video - but what has happened to the player now?

Nowadays, the Internet is flooded with stories of young academy prospects who are tipped to become the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, while any spectacular moment at amateur levels will quickly go viral.

Back in 2007, though, things were slightly different. YouTube had only been founded two years earlier in the United States, while you might struggle to find many people who knew what Twitter was. The closest you got to TikTok was waiting another two years for Kesha to release her hit song.

While some managers might not always get back to young players, there are plenty of stories of Sir Alex Ferguson doing exactly the opposite.

An 18-year-old, newly released by Macclesfield, once delivered his own compilation DVD directly to Ferguson's home address in Wilmslow - with the United boss promising to watch it.

The Scot did just that, and subsequently invited the player for a trial.

In the case of Davis, his grandad sent over a DVD of the nine-year-old playing football in Brisbane, Australia, where his family was living at the time.

United scouts watched the videos, invited him to participate in several training sessions and then offered him a contract.

Davis would play in the same age group as Marcus Rashford, telling The Athletic in 2023 that the future United and England star was 'the standout and always has been'.

The midfielder continued to work his way up through the youth ranks, but then suffered a broken leg when he was 14 years old.

Davis described the injury as a 'turning point' as far as United's subsequent decision not to give him a scholarship contract at 15, but also added: "It was all up in the air, and what is to say I would get one? I probably wasn't going to. But it didn't help the process and it didn't help me going on to look elsewhere."

After working his way back to full fitness, Davis decided to focus on his education and went to university, where he studied business and economics in Sheffield.

Although he now works full-time in finance, the midfielder - who is now 26 - has remained in football, and is still based in Lancashire.

After a spell with Altrincham, Davis has most recently been playing his club football for Manchester-based West Didsbury & Chorlton, who play in the North West Counties League Premier Division.

The club has been home to a number of high-profile players over recent years, including current Bolton winger Carlos Mendes Gomes and Gibraltar international Jack Sargeant.

Last week, he signed for divisional rivals Cheadle Town, who finished a position above the midfielder's former club last season.

Twitter

On his current life, Davis told The Athletic: "Things didn't turn out how I wished for at United, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

"People still make tongue-in-cheek comments [about the YouTube video] in passing, but nothing like they used to!

"One kid used to call me wonderkid... it is all fun and games."

Who wouldn’t know Taylor Swift! The pop icon has been setting the industry ablaze for more than the past decade, earning herself a reputation for being one of the most bankable performers out there. The Lover singer has lit the figurative stage alight time and again.

You don’t break so many records in the music world, overtaking greats like Elvis Presley when it comes to spending most weeks spent No. 1 on the Billboard album chart as a solo artist, without being that good. But our favorite star has made many mistakes along the way, including the time when she put Joe Jonas to shame on national television.

Taylor Swift did something in her teens that was “too much”

Taylor Swift regrets acting impulsively

Taylor Swift started young, releasing her first album (which was also named Taylor Swift) in 2006 when she was just a teen. Her song, Tim McGraw, set in course a streak of events that would make her a part of the elite circle of the music industry.

She was just a teen back then. And as we all know, teens have a penchant for making mistakes. The Look What You Made Me Do singer was no different. Years later, Swift had the chance to introspect on the mistakes that she made in those days.

Taylor Swift’s most rebellious moment left ex-beau Joe Jonas humiliated

The photo that triggered ‘rebel’ Taylor

The year is 2019. Taylor Swift finds herself on the sets of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a show where she’s had some uncomfortable moments before. But the times had changed. So had she. Talk show host Ellen asked her what was the “most rebellious thing that she had done as a teenager”. She couldn’t help but remember another evening on the same set.

Answering the question, the Cardigan singer revealed that one of her most rebellious teenage moments was putting her ex at the time, Joe Jonas, on blast all the way back in 2008 leaving everyone in the studio, including the 65-year-old host, shocked.

Taylor Swift regrets putting Joe Jonas on the blast

Taylor Swift revealed how Joe Jonas left her

Back in 2008, a young Taylor Swift was not one to hold back when DeGeneres showed her a photo of herself along with her then ex-Joe Jonas. Tearing into the Sucker singer. On seeing their picture, she said, “It’s all right. I’m cool.”

She wasn’t. The 34-year-old continued,

“You know what? It’s like when I find that person that is right for me and he’ll be wonderful, and when I look at that person, I’m not even going to be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18.” (The Ellen DeGeneres Show)
No one could contain themselves after this bombshell of a reveal. A decade down the line, the Grammy winner regretted her actions, saying,
“That was too much. Yeah, that was too much. I was 18. We laugh about it now. That was mouthy, yeah, teenage stuff there.”
Even Joe Jonas seems to have moved on. None of them are 18-year-olds now after all.