WAYNE ROONEY is 21 on Tuesday. “We’ll give him a birthday cake,” said Sir Alex Ferguson, “and we might make him play against Crewe [on Wednesday].” He was joking. Fielding Rooney at this stage of the Carling Cup would be a poor present for the player, although it would be a glorious gift to the competition. Not that Ferguson need worry on that score. In the League Cup’s recent history he has been its greatest benefactor.

Ferguson was accused of killing the League Cup when he began, almost two decades ago, using it to try out youngsters. Over the years other managers have copied him, however, and now top clubs showcasing new talent is what gives the competition its unique selling point. Of Ferguson’s current squad, Paul Scholes and John O’Shea first trod turf as Manchester United players in the League Cup; at Arsenal Cesc Fabregas, Philippe Senderos, Johan Djourou and Gael Clichy made their debuts in it.

United and Arsenal also happen to be the competition’s most consistently successful sides since 2003. For them, treating it as a testing ground has been win-win. Ferguson may use the Crewe match as a chance to examine some of the youth doing so well in United’s reserves. Ritchie Jones, Danny Rose, Phil Marsh and Ryan Shawcross are among those hoping to play.

Rafael Benitez has adopted Ferguson’s policy, and the Liverpool side against Reading will have a novel look. Making debuts should be the young Argentinian Gabriel Paletta and Nabil El Zhar, a 20-year-old Moroccan striker plucked from St Etienne and the subject of a dispute between Liverpool and the French club. Paul Anderson, Jack Hobbs and goalkeeper David Martin are among the English fledglings who are hoping that Benitez will give them their chance.

“I don’t like to talk about young players. I prefer to talk about good players. The Carling Cup is an opportunity to use good players who haven’t played a lot and see how they’re progressing. If they are young, okay,” Benitez said. His sensitivity stems from criticism for fielding experimental teams when Liverpool lost in the FA Cup at Burnley in 2004-5 and in the Carling Cup at Crystal Palace last season. “In all competitions here you’re supposed to play with your ‘strongest team’, but maybe I can play with seven lads and four senior players and the team will be stronger, because if it is full of seniors, they won’t be motivated,” Benitez said. “If you lose, it’s ‘He wasn’t playing with his strongest team’. If you win, it’s ‘Fantastic, he was playing with the lads’.”

Arsène Wenger, though, has taken the Carling-Cup-as-showcase concept to wonderful extremes. Four times in three seasons Arsenal, with a majority of under-21 players, have defeated Premiership teams. Last year Djourou, Kerrea Gilbert, Sebastian Larsson, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Arturo Lupoli and Abou Diaby were involved when Arsenal came within seconds of beating Wigan in the semi-finals.

Away at West Brom in midweek, Theo Walcott should get to further his education. Other prospects, such as Alexandre Song, Matthew Connolly, Armand Traore and Mark Randall, are in contention. The greatest expectation is over whether Denilson will play. The Brazil Under-19 captain, bought for a fee rising to £3.4m, made Wenger’s first-team squad for the first time against CSKA Moscow and is said to be sensational. He dazzled so much on his first appearance for Arsenal reserves that he left the field to a standing ovation.

In many ways the Carling Cup has become the top layer of a pyramid of tournaments through which talents make their way into Premiership teams. Paletta and El Zhar were spotted by Liverpool at the 2005 world youth championships. This under-20 competition is said to be merely of passing interest to Wenger: his view is that by then the best players will have been snapped up. He prefers to scout the under-17 events, having discovered Fabregas and Senderos this way. Mexico’s Carlos Vela won the Golden Boot at last year’s Under-17 World Cup. Within a fortnight he was being flown to London with his father and congratulated on his achievement by Thierry Henry. Vela signed for Arsenal a few days later. Only 17, he is in Salamanca’s first team, having been loaned to the Spanish second-division club while awaiting a UK work permit.

Discerning talent-spotters can look even further down the age levels to see new stars. Since 2003 Manchester United have hosted the Premier Cup, the leading tournament for under-15 players in the world, in which Lionel Messi, Aaron Lennon, Robinho, Carlos Tevez and Fernando Torres first wowed international audiences. United have already signed a German goalkeeper, Ron Robert Zieler, after watching him in the competition. More than 8,000 teams entered the 2006 Premier Cup, won by Vela’s old club, Chivas Guadalajara. The bad news for United is that the beaten finalists were Vela’s new club, Arsenal.

Crewe v Man Utd, Wednesday, Sky Sports 1, 7pm, kick-off 7.45pm

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