Abhranil Roy
The senior side may have been found wanting, but Manchester United’s Under 21 side has bagged a league title once again, for the 4th time in 5 years. With two games left to play, the team retained their Premier League Under-21 league title with a dramatic 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur to take them clear of second-placed Sunderland. What makes the win even more impressive is that it happened despite the fact that a number of key players of the team were pulled out and slotted into the senior squad due to injuries, as a result of which the average age of Warren Joyce’s team was just 19.6 years. Last year’s title-winning Under-21 squad featured players such as Adnan Januzaj, James Wilson, Ashley Fletcher, Jesse Lingard, Tyler Blackett, Love and McNair and while the likes of Marcus Rashford, Varela and Borthwick-Jackson have already made remarkable breakthroughs this season, here we take a look at 3 more players who could make it big for United in the next season:
1. Donald Love
The 20-year-old is a right back by nature, but in the game against Spurs, he was slotted into midfield , where he showed excellent composure and ability and also ended up scoring a thunderbolt. Love is highly rated by Joyce and has also made his senior team bow this season under van Gaal. One will be hoping we shall see a lot more of the Scotsman in the next campaign, no matter who stays the manager.
2. Andreas Perreira
The Belgian-born Brazilian playmaker is probably the most gifted player of the U21 side, and although he does have a handful of appearances for the first team, yet the general opinion is that Louis van Gaal has failed to use him as much as he should have. Perreira has also featured for Brazil in the FIFA U21 World Cup final last year, and although he couldn’t lift the trophy, yet he made quite an impression on everybody watching the matches. Even against Spurs, where he was deployed up front, he showcased his talents once again by netting a predator’s goal. He must be used more for the first team, for sure!
3. Ashley Fletcher
A tall but agile striker, Ashley Fletcher, 20, has scored goals whether he’s played for the Under-16s, Under-18s, Nicky Butt’s Under-19s or the Under-21s. He’s been a regular in Joyce’s Under-21 squad this season and scored a hat-trick for the Under-21s against Rochdale at the start of the campaign.
