This definitive family-authorised biography tells the story of the boy who left his home in Dudley to earn his Manchester United debut at the age of 16 – and made such an impression that he was an England international at 18.

Duncan Edwards from new book Rare images of Man Utd icon Duncan Edwards from new book

Suddenly the MiG (Mikoyan- Gurevich, a Soviet fighter aircraft) shot beneath our plane – and we zoomed upwards. Over the following years, they’d make it known in conversations that there was a wish in Duncan’s family [to do a book].If those United kids had played as Murphy believed they could, then his team-talk may well have gone down in history. Some of the current players and all of the parasitic owners could do a lot worse than read this book to remind them what an institution Manchester United is and to treat the club with the dignity and respect it deserves.

Rare images of Man Utd icon Duncan Edwards from new book

The words above were uttered by legendary United figure Jimmy Murphy, as United trailed at half-time of an FA Youth Cup tie away to Chelsea in 1955.Writing about Edwards and indeed Munich is a serious task, but Barton is confident fans will enjoy the book and learn more about Duncan's life. As with other titles by this author, you live and breathe football and especially Manchester United.

Duncan Edwards: Eternal : An intimate portrait of Manchester

Team-mate Bobby Charlton summed Edwards up best: "Sentiment can throw a man's judgement out of perspective. Eternal' is the complete story of an extraordinary footballer, whose influence on Manchester United and the success that followed can still be felt today.I’ve tried to tell Duncan as he was and try and remove the hyperbole of the post-Munich stuff, so you get an idea of how he actually was. Whether or not this particular story would be one of embarrassment more than it might stir some political unrest was not quite certain – Duncan was due to be demobbed, and may well have had that on his mind too.