Manchester United’s academy keeps producing first team stars and plenty of them are in the spotlight as new manager Ruben Amorim prepares to take over.
The Portuguese is known to trust youth products and plenty of youngsters could earn minutes if they manage to impress in his different tactical set-up.
One academy product who is earning rave reviews at the club is James Scanlon, with the 18-year-old netting 11 goals while registering four assists in nine games for the U18s and U19s.
He signed his first professional deal before the current season and was part of Erik ten Hag’s pre-season squad. Scanlon is highly versatile, capable of playing in midfield and out wide.
Scanlon progress
The young star is already a full Gibraltar international and according to The Daily Mail, sources at United’s training ground have told the publication that there is surprise at the way his progress has been handled.
This season Scanlon is yet to be called up for the U21s and has largely played for Adam Lawrence’s entertaining U18 side, netting four goals against Blackburn Rovers and grabbing a hat-trick against Leeds United.
He is “highly-rated” by academy coaches at United and it is clear that he is far better than his current age group and needs to be promoted to the U21s to challenge him and ensure his development continues.
“It’s increasingly puzzling to see James Scanlon continuing at Under-18 level when he shows on a weekly basis that he is far above the level.
Needs a promotion
“He was also part of Erik ten Hag’s pre-season tour squad, and training ground sources have been perplexed at his lack of promotion to a higher age-group and the risk of stunting his development.”
Scanlon has been part of first-team training sessions as well and it is time he is called up for the U21s or sent out on a loan to gather further experience.
From an academy perspective, it gets tricky to spread minutes across all of their talented youngsters but under INEOS, United are expected to improve their academy structure even further.
As for Scanlon, all he can do is keep his head down and keep working and either a promotion or a loan in January could be forthcoming. The ultimate aim for now is to catch Amorim’s eye.
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
