Manchester United youngster Bendito Mantato has been selected for the England squad to play in the U17 European Championship this summer.
The 17-year-old starlet signed a new four-year deal with the Red Devils this month after a series of impressive performances at academy level.
These displays have even caught the eye of head coach Ruben Amorim who has fast-tracked Mantato’s ascension into the first-team.
Mantato was added to the B list for United’s Europa League campaign – which offers the Reds the last chance of salvaging success this season – and was included in the match-day squad for the 7-1 aggregate win in the semi-final against Athletic Club.
The victory sets up a tantalising ‘All-English’ final in Bilbao on May 21 against Tottenham Hotspur, who have already beat United three times this season.
Mantato is still awaiting his senior debut but this latest call-up for the Three Lions demonstrates how highly-regarded the youngster is at both club and international level.
Interestingly, the 17-year-old was named as a defender in the England U17 squad, despite often playing further forward in United’s youth teams.
Mantato is a versatile player, combining excellent technical ability with strong physical attributes and good defensive instincts. And it’s this positional versatility which is likely to have alerted Amorim to his potential as a first-team player, given the parallels he shares with a former pupil of the Portuguese coach – Geovany Quenda.
Quenda, 18, emerged as a vital player for Amorim at Sporting CP with the winger’s potent pairing of pace and skill making him an ideal candidate as a wing-back in the 40-year-old’s 3-4-2-1 system.
Quenda was thought to be a key target for the Red Devils this summer as the club searches for reinforcements to buttress Amorim’s squad, only for the Portuguese starlet to agree a deal to sign for Premier League rival Chelsea.
But Mantato offers a similar profile to Quenda with the England U17 coaching staff evidently trusting the 17-year-old’s ability as a defender, despite many of his strengths lying further forward.
The wing-back position is an integral one in Amorim’s set-up and Mantato’s ability to play on either side, as he has done in United’s academy, offers the youngster a pathway into the first-team at Old Trafford.
Amorim will be a keen observer of how Mantato fares in Albania this summer, where the U17 Euros will take place, given he looks set to be deployed in a more traditional fullback role.
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
