Manchester United secretly increase Sekou Kone’s responsibilities after overcoming his biggest challenge

Sekou Kone has been making positive steps in the Manchester United Academy since he joined the club in the summer transfer window.

Manchester United secured the surprise signing of Sekou Kone from Mali club Guidars FC for a reported £1 million fee in the summer.

It is a deal which United have rarely made in recent years but there is a conscious change under INEOS to secure these type of talents. Since then, the club have signed the likes of Chido Obi Martin, James Overy and Ayden Heaven.

Kone’s start to life in Manchester started slowly as he was not involved in a pre-season. United wanted him to slowly build his fitness while adapting to his new life in England.

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The 18-year-old eventually made his debut in early November for the Under-21s against Sunderland, coming off the bench in the second half.

Four days later, Kone came on at half-time for the Under-19s in their UEFA Youth League victory over FK Zalgiris.

However, in his third start a week later, Kone suffered an injury setback against Huddersfield Town’s first-team in the EFL Trophy.

Kone set for fourth start in a row

Kone returned to action earlier this month and has since started the last three games for United’s Under-21s against Aston Villa, FC Nordsjaelland and Brighton.

He played over 60 minutes in all of those games and is beginning to look like he’s getting used to the physical demands and he will get the chance to continue that trend on Wednesday evening.

Travis Binnion’s side face up against Oldham in the National League Cup and Kone is likely to be involved once again.

The talented teenager posted a preview for the game on his Instagram page, hinting that he will be making his fourth start for the team in 11 days, showcasing an increasing responsibility that hasn’t been noticed by many supporters.

United will broadcast the clash on MUTV, with kick-off coming at 19:00 GMT.

Kone overcoming biggest challenge at United

Recently, United’s Under-21s manager Binnion claimed that the biggest challenge for Kone is to get used to the physical demands of the game, especially playing in midfield.

“Listen, he’s a good player [and] he’s going to be a really good player. He’s still getting to grips with the language, the intensity, the positional stuff, and his own fitness,” the boss explained.

“You can see tonight that some of their players are fitter than him, some of our players are fitter than him, and that can’t be right in time. In time, he’s got to be everywhere on the pitch and finding it easy physically at this level.

“That’s the challenge of where we’ve got to get to and we will get there, he will get there. But [it is] just nice to see him training, playing and keep building on things.”

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Kone has brilliant ability on the ball, able to bypass the press with a drop of the shoulder or pass into the pockets.

He also looks like he could have the capabilities to be a strong defensive player, with long legs reminiscent of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and he can be very sharp when looking to make interceptions.

Now, he needs to try and start doing that on a consistent basis across the course of 90 minutes. It is understandable that he would take time to adapt to the higher intensity levels after joining straight from his home-town club in Mali.

Read More: Sekou Kone reveals three players who inspired him to join Manchester United

The good thing is that it appears he is beginning to make those strides forward now. There is still a lot of football to be played before the end of the season and he needs to get as many minutes as possible.

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