Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has not shied away from handing minutes to academy graduates provided they impress during training.
Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo have broken through to the first team under the Dutchman’s careful watch and this season seems to be Amad Diallo’s time to shine.
Another youngster who has been tipped to make his breakthrough this term is Toby Collyer, who has been part of the matchday squad for all the games so far this season.
He impressed in pre-season and Ten Hag’s tete-a-tete with him after winning the FA Cup was quickly spotted by fans, as it was reminiscent of the manager’s talk with Mainoo the season prior.
Collyer misses out vs Palace
The former Ajax coach was present for his contract signing, indicating how highly he rates him and the manager turned to him after a chastening first half against arch-rivals Liverpool.
He was asked to replace Casemiro for the second half and has been tipped to eventually replace the Brazilian should he keep his performances up.
Manchester United u21s vs Manchester City about to kick off at Carrington. No live coverage provided by the club or MUTV
XI: Graczyk, Ogunneye, Jackson, Kingdon, Amass, Collyer, Devaney, Ennis, J. Fletcher, Mather, Wheatley
Subs: Murdock, Rowe, Sharpe, Curley, Missin #MUFC…
— The Peoples Person (@_peoplesperson_) September 21, 2024
After a decent cameo, Ten Hag chose to play him in an unfamiliar left-back role against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup where he tried his best.
But he is set to miss out on a place on the bench for the game against Crystal Palace after he was called up by U21 manager Travis Binnion for the derby against Manchester City’s reserve team as revealed by The Peoples Person. He played the full 90 minutes.
So does Wheatley
Another upcoming star who will not be making the trip to London is striker Ethan Wheatley. The 18-year-old was on the bench for the last three senior games but was selected for the U21 Manchester derby.
In fact, he got himself on the scoresheet in the second half but could not prevent his team from going down 1-3 against City.
Wheatley had become the 250th academy graduate to make his first team debut last season and ended up with three appearances under his belt.
So far this season, Ten Hag has not utilised the youngster, with the Dutchman preferring summer recruit Joshua Zirkzee instead. However, the derby goal should help his cause for future minutes with quite a few fixtures on the horizon.
Feature image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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