Crewe Alexandra used to be very well known for having one of the best youth academies in all of England, with Premier League talents such as Dean Ashton, Danny Murphy and Robbie Savage coming through in the 1990s and 2000s.

Their youth setup might not have produced any international footballers for a number of years now, but there are signs that talents are once again developing at the Cheshire club, with the likes of Harry Pickering and Perry Ng making big moves to the Championship this season.

And their development, along with the likes of Charlie Kirk, Tom Lowery, Ryan Wintle and others have coincided with the Railwaymen gaining a place in League One again - a league they had been missing from for four seasons before their promotion last season.

Crewe have flip-flopped between the two leagues since 2006 and some decent players have passed through the club in that time - let's take a look at where some of the departed now ply their trade.

A Crewe academy graduate, Tootle was a regular at Gresty Road for five whole seasons after breaking into the squad as a teenager, and came one short of making 200 league appearances for the Railwaymen.

Injury and illness restricted his final season with Alex, and despite a new contract offer from the club, Tootle switched to Shrewsbury Town.

Tootle has dropped down the leagues since, and now 30 years of age he's playing for National League North side Boston United, making 15 appearances before their season was curtailed.

Crewe took a chance on Inman back in 2012, taking him on loan from Newcastle United before signing him permanently the following season.

He was a real success for the club, especially in his final season where he scored 10 goals from midfield before he departed for Peterborough United on a bosman deal.

After moving on to Rochdale, Inman returned home to Australia in 2019 to play for Brisbane Roar, but now plays in India along with many other Football League luminaries - he's contracted to ATK Mohun Bagan but is on loan at Odisha.

Tough-tackling midfielder Osman joined Crewe in 2012 following a brief spell in Greece with Kerkyra, and ended up making 69 appearances in League One for the Railwaymen, captaining the side in his second and final campaign.

Since his departure in 2014, Osman has spent a lot of time in Scotland - mostly with Partick Thistle - and after a very brief spell down south with non-league Dartford, the Ghanaian returned north of the border to sign with Brechin City in January, but hasn't played a game for them yet with Leagues One and Two in Scotland yet to resume.

Haber was brought in from Stevenage in 2014 to score goals for Crewe, and he delivered 16 of them over two seasons.

He earned a move to Scottish Premiership side Dundee in 2016, and in recent times has played in his native Canada, but his most recent transfer has seen him switch to Cambodian side Visakha, who he joined in January.

Another player to come through Crewe's famed academy, O'Connor only made 77 appearances for the club, but ended up carving out a solid career in the EFL.

He made the step up to the Championship in 2009 to play for Scunthorpe United, scoring eight goals at that level in the 2010/11 campaign.

Now 33 years old, O'Connor has returned to Northern Ireland and signed for Glenavon at the start of the current season, where he's scored six goals in 15 games.

Colclough was thought of at Crewe by fans as a real talent, and scored 12 goals in 60 league games for the club from the wing.

His performances attracted the attention of Wigan Athletic who ended up purchasing him, but his career hasn't gone upwards like it was expected to do.

Colclough was recently released from Scunthorpe United after being charged with assault, and was picked up by non-league Altrincham in the aftermath - he's scored three times in 13 games in the National League this season.

Kiwomya was a Chelsea youngster when he joined Crewe on loan in 2016, and he impressed in League Two after scoring seven goals.

It looked like he could play higher than that level and he subsequently joined League One Doncaster Rovers, but he failed to impress at Donny and is now at National League side King's Lynn Town.

The brother of Paul Pogba was always going to grab attention when he made his way into the Football League, although the Man Utd man wasn't a big name at this point.

The striker spent two years at Crewe after joining from non-league Wrexham, scoring 17 times in 56 games before moving to Italian side Pescara for an undisclosed fee.

Pogba's career has taken him to many countries, and he recently penned a deal with Slovenian outfit Tabor Sežana, and made his debut on February 21.