Man United starlet inspires incredible academy comeback, he has ‘wowed’ Erik ten Hag

One Manchester United starlet inspired an incredible academy comeback for the Under-21s on Tuesday evening.

The Reds have brought several young talents into the first-team squad in recent years, including Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.

There are several others exciting prospects in the ranks at Carrington looking to be the next player to emerge as an option for Erik ten Hag’s side.

Many of those need to take the step up from Under-18s football to the Under-21s, and Jack Fletcher has got off to a brilliant start this week.

The Under-21s played against League One side Barnsley, who finished sixth in the league table last season, in their first EFL Trophy game of the new campaign.

After going 2-0 down in the first half, the young Reds provided an inspired comeback, winning the game 3-2 and scoring all of their goals in the last 10 minutes of the tie.

Central midfielder Jack Fletcher managed to bag two of the goals: the decisive winner and a potential goal-of-the-season contender. Harry Amass assisted the first.

The 17-year-old joined the club at the beginning of last season alongside brother Tyler from Manchester City. He was a crucial part of Adam Lawrence’s treble-winning Under-18s side last season.

Reports midway through last season explained that first-team boss Erik ten Hag was ‘wowed’ by Fletcher’s training efforts and that a plan had been put in place to fast-track his development.

Another report from Manchester World this summer explained that the Dutch manager remains a big admirer of Fletcher.

It was detailed that while the 17-year-old is slightly behind Toby Collyer in the pecking order at the moment, he is equally viewed as having the potential to make it into the first-team set-up.

The son of United icon and staff member Darren Fletcher, Jack was included in the club’s pre-season tour but only played in the friendly games before departing for the United States.

Instead, the two weeks would have been used as an opportunity to continue training with the first team while a more experienced option, Collyer, was given chances on the pitch.

Fletcher’s development is going to be something that Ten Hag and his coaching staff keep a keen eye on, and if he continues to impress like he did against Barnsley, then a first-team call-up could come sooner rather than later.

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