Saturday 03 May 2025 10:30
Ruben Amorim has admitted that he will need to turn to youth in Sunday’s Premier League contest at Brentford.
With the game at the Gtech Community Stadium sandwiched between our two Europa League semi-final ties against Athletic Club, the head coach is wary of the need to prioritise next Thursday’s Old Trafford encounter with the Bilbao-based outfit.
With a healthy 3-0 advantage from the first leg, United are looking to clinch a second trip to the Basque city by completing the job and facing either Tottenham Hotspur or Bodo/Glimt in the final later this month.
Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson, Jaydan Kamason, Sekou Kone, Bendito Mantato and Chido Obi were all part of the 26-man squad that travelled to Spain and could be in the frame to feature in the capital on Sunday.
Kamason, Kone and Mandato are yet to make their senior debuts for the club and it will be interesting to see the head coach’s selection when it comes to the weekend.
Amorim has already ruled Noussair Mazraoui out of the 14:00 BST kick-off and has suggested other heroes from the big win in Bilbao may need to be rested after their exertions.
“Maybe some kids will have to play against Brentford,” predicted Ruben, speaking to ICS ahead of the Europa League game with Athletic Club.
“We have some problems in our squad. Some players are in the limit. We will try to manage everything and the best way is to prepare for all these things. We’ll see what we can do at the weekend.
“Chido cannot play against Athletic but, in the Premier League, yes, of course. They will have to play. We have some problems. We have some players, in this moment who can play one game, but the next one they cannot play.
“We don’t know what kind of starting XI we need for the second game [this week]. Everything is in my mind but they [the youngsters] will have to play.”
Amorim accepts Brentford pose a difficult threat, as they continued their impressive form, with a superb 2-0 away win at Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest on Thursday night.
“It’s just one day to prepare so I will be really simple with the idea for the game against Brentford,” he added. “We will see which kind of players cannot play that game, if it puts them into risk for the second leg against Athletic Club.
“But also I know Brentford are a really tough team with a lot of quality. They have a really good bond between every player. You can feel it. We need to be prepared for a tough game against Brentford.”
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Saturday 03 May 2025 10:30
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