One complaint that can be pointed towards Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim is the fact that he has failed to trust in youth as much as fans would have liked since his arrival.
He has already given his reasoning behind that but it does not sound too convincing given the injury woes at the club and the sheer underperformance of certain players.
That the Portuguese is better served playing Chido Obi over Rasmus Hojlund seems a no-brainer at the moment and while that change cannot be made for Thursday‘s Europa League clash against Real Sociedad, Amorim can start with a key change at the back in the first leg.
His decision to bring on Victor Lindelof against Fulham proved to be a disaster with the Swede looking shaky on and off the ball while he missed the penalty that handed the tie to the Cottagers.
Lindelof does not deserve game time
Amorim’s former teammate has been struggling for years now and yet, inexplicably he continues to remain at Old Trafford outlasting so many players who should have been kept instead.
The club have already decided not to offer the Sweden international a new contract which means he will leave once the season concludes. And there is no reason for Amorim to place his trust in a player who will not be at the club beyond the summer.
It is time he looks to the future and he already has a readymade replacement in Ayden Heaven, who arrived at the club in January alongside Patrick Dorgu.
That Arsenal tried their level best in order to thwart United should tell us all about how highly-rated the 18-year-old is and he showed exactly what he is made up of when he was handed his debut in extra time by Amorim.
Heaven is the future
In 30 minutes, he made three clearances, while he also won all his aerial duels, an aspect of the game Lindelof always has struggled with.
He completed all his passes and was 100% successful with his long passing as well and most importantly, he did not look daunted by the atmosphere (all stats via sofascore).
Heaven relished the physical battle at the back, something which is not Lindelof’s strongest suit and given he is left-footed, he is perfectly suited to replacing Leny Yoro, who is likely to start in Lisandro Martinez’s absence.
Amorim is unlikely to start with Heaven and will instead likely play his experienced defenders like Matthijs de Ligt, Yoro and Noussair Mazraoui.
But he must look to the England U19 international ahead of Lindelof, who is simply not good enough anymore for a club of United’s stature. High time Amorim looks to the future instead of relying on the past.
Feature image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
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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
