Jesse Lingard, James Wilson, Andreas Pereira, Sam Johnstone, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Axel Tuanzebe have all been included in matchday squads for the first team this term and there is a real sense that van Gaal is willing to take chances and blood homegrown talent.
In an exclusive MUTV interview with McGuinness, the much-respected tutor of young players reveals the extent of Lingard's nerves during the successful FA Youth Cup run in 2011 and how advice from former youth-team boss Eric Harrison sprung to mind in the wake of Borthwick-Jackson's recent debut.
You must be very proud of Jesse Lingard following his performance against West Brom…
Well, I think everybody who has worked in the Academy in the last few years and been involved with Jesse was delighted. He’s a real success story for everybody, particularly for himself, as he’s worked so hard and all his family have backed him and so on by bringing him here for so many years. He probably wouldn’t have had the same opportunities at another Academy. It’s one thing we do pretty well – we work with late developers. He was very small when he was younger, a late developer coming through, but we saw the talent and everybody believed in him. I think that gave him the confidence to keep going and develop himself so we’re absolutely delighted he’s doing so well in the first team.
No comments:
Post a Comment