Manchester United coach sings praises of “great” Academy star, he experienced “really hard” moment

James Overy finally made his debut for Manchester United’s under-18s on the weekend after signing for the club in the summer.

James Overy, 18, developed his skills through the Perth Glory academy in Australia. The right-back caught the eye when he played a pre-season friendly against West Ham in 2023 when he was only 15 years old.

Later than year, the young defender and his family moved to the United Kingdom, and he started playing for Newton Abbot Spurs’ first team in Newton Abbot, Devon.

The teenager then signed for Manchester United in the following summer alongside other talents such as Chido Obi Martin and Samuel Lusale.

But injury issues from pre-season meant that Overy was only able to make his debut for the club on Saturday afternoon for Adam Lawrence’s under-18s side.

Despite a disappointing result, drawing 2-2 against Liverpool, it was pleasing to see Overy come off the bench to make his debut, while Shea Lacey also made his own return from injury.

Lawrence sings praises of Overy

Speaking after the game, Lawrence issued glowing praise of Overy and the positivity he showed through a “really hard” time out of action.

“It’s been really hard for James because obviously he’s made the move from Australia and he’s a terrible lad first of all,” the under-18s boss told club media.

“But he got injured in pre-season and you can see he’s such a great lad, a great kid and has such good energy and he wanted to be back.

“A real credit to him because he stayed positive throughout, it’s not effected him in terms of his positivity.

“And listen, it’s obviously disappointing what’s happened in the game, but for him to be back and playing football again is brilliant.”

Overy reacts to United debut

Overy will be hoping to get more game-time in the under-18s and get his match sharpness back before pushing for a spot in the under-21s.

He is clearly an extremely talented player but even those who follow United’s youth teams are not too familiar with his style due to the injury keeping him out of action until now.

Reacting to his first United youth appearance, Overy wrote on Instagram: “Great feeling to be back after a tough 8 months out with injury.”

Of course, currently the first-team at Old Trafford do not use natural fullbacks and instead manager Ruben Amorim has wingbacks in a three-at-the-back formation.

That means that these young fullbacks will likely need to have – or develop – slightly different skillsets than they would do in their natural position. Overy will be hoping that he can eventually make that jump into the first-team squad.

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