Manchester United fans are set to finally watch one of the club’s most exciting talents during their post-season tour of Asia over the next week.
After finally ending their dreadful Premier League campaign this weekend, Manchester United are ready to play two more games over the next week.
The Reds are facing ASEAN All-Stars and Hong Kong, China next week in a trip which is set to earn the club over £8 million. An important amount of cash especially after missing Champions League qualification.
Ruben Amorim is taking the majority of his first-team squad on the tour but there are also a number of exciting youth players travelling, and they are likely going to get a lot of minutes.
United’s first-teamers have just finished a gruelling season and several players even pulled up with injuries on the final day against Aston Villa. For the Academy players, the two games present them an extra opportunity to impress Amorim ahead of next term.
United fans will see world-class talent in Asia
United fans are aware of a lot of the talented players within the Academy – before Alejandro Garnacho or Kobbie Mainoo stepped up to the first-team, many people already knew all about them.
That is the same case with Shea Lacey, who has been considered one of the most talented players at Carrington for several years now. Some have even labelled the teenager as a “world-class talent”.
The 18-year-old has had a terrible time with injuries over the last year and that has limited his game-time and development. He was training with Erik ten Hag’s first-team when he was just 16 years of age.
United have been taking care with Lacey in recent months, eager to avoid any further setbacks, and he ended the season strongly for the Under-18s, netting two goals and two assists in his final five games despite only starting two of those.
Now, he is finally getting his chance to impress in the first-team again after it was confirmed he was part of the 32-man squad for the Asia trip alongside other talents like Sekou Kone and Tyler Fletcher.
Lacey can try and push towards Amorim’s first-team
Lacey would probably be closer to a first-team debut if he did not have injury setbacks but this is the opportunity for him to move towards that position.
For those who watch the Academy fixtures, there is no doubt that he is talented enough to make the step up. It was a similar feeling when Mainoo was playing in the youth teams.
Read More: Matheus Cunha agrees terms with Manchester United, shirt number revealed with announcement next week
But there are going to be some questions physically. Lacey is not a big player but someone like Amad shows that you don’t need that size to be strong enough for the top level. It’s about many other things as well.
For United supporters, these two games coming so soon after the season is strange and there probably won’t be huge amounts of interest if the first-teamers are out there trying not to get injured. Seeing kids like Lacey looking to impress is a much more interesting prospect though.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 12:30 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.