Rio: There’s ‘only one’ Utd star who plays without ‘scars’ and ‘baggage’, he’s a ‘breath of fresh air’

Rio Ferdinand is delighted to see a young starlet like Shea Lacey making the transition from academy to first-team football.The Manchester United prospect has made three appearances thus far, two of which came under short-term interim Darren Fletcher in the last two matches.How Shea Lacey has fared thus far(Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)He was almost in dreamland on just his second outing when he came off the bench with United drawing 2-2 away to Burnley, and he curled a near inch-perfect strike into the top corner – but saw his effort unfortunately ricochet off the crossbar.Lacey was subsequently called upon to make an impact during Sunday’s FA Cup clash with Brighton and Hove Albion, marking his maiden appearance on home soil.Although he entered the fray in the 62nd minute to make his lengthiest cameo yet, he was unable to see out the full tie.Moments after being shown a yellow card, the 18-year-old was controversially brandished a second booking for dissent and sent off in the 89th minute.When making his way down the tunnel, Lacey looked inconsolable, but he did receive a warm reception from the Old Trafford faithful as he departed the field.Now, in the build-up to a crunch run of fixtures for United, Lacey will be keeping his fingers crossed that he can keep building on his senior experience under newly-appointed Michael Carrick – and Ferdinand certainly thinks he deserves to continue being granted opportunities.What Ferdinand had to say about Lacey(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)Reacting to the attacker’s displays on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: “Do you know the thing about him which jumps out to me? He’s confident and has belief in his ability, and he’s got bundles of ability because we’ve been watching him for a couple of years now in the youth academy.“But he’s the only one when you see him out there, he doesn’t have deep scars of regimes before, of past managers. He’s just come in, and he doesn’t have any of that baggage.“He doesn’t have all of that in his mind. His mindset is free of all that, and he’s just come in clear going, ‘I just need to play well’, and that’s a breath of fresh air.“There isn’t any hiding or thinking, ‘I don’t want to make a mistake’. He’s out there thinking, ‘give me the ball, I just want to do something, I don’t know what it is, but get me the ball, and I’ll do something’.“And when he gets it, he does look a threat. I hope he doesn’t get pushed back into the Under-21s when Mbeumo and Amad come back. It will be interesting to see what they do with him.”