Bendito Mantato is one of the most exciting talents in the Manchester United academy and is set to play in the FA Youth Cup semi-final next week.
Manchester United have an extremely strong group at Under-18s level who are attempting to extend their lead as the club with the most FA Youth Cup trophies.
The Reds have won the most illustrious youth competition 11 times since it was introduced in 1952, which is two more than any other club in the country.
Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho were part of the last team to win in 2022, with the Argentine scoring twice in the final at Old Trafford in front of 69,000 fans.
Now, Adam Lawrence’s side have progressed to the semi-final of the competition after wins over Coventry City, Preston North End, Chelsea and Arsenal.
A trip to Villa Park to face the youth team of Aston Villa awaits and if United can win that game, they would host yet another final at Old Trafford this year.
Mantato reveals he wants to follow in footsteps of ex-United duo
Bendito Mantato has had an interupted season this year due to injury but returned to action in style last month when he scored the winning goal against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
The 17-year-old winger is one player who has been tipped to be a potential wingback for Ruben Amorim’s first-team squad and is highly rated within the Academy setup.
He is expected to play against Villa next week and has been discussing the potential of winning the FA Youth Cup, which he describes as the “most important competition at academy level”.
Mantato has stated that he hopes to follow in the footsteps of Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard, who both won the competition with United in 2011 before eventually becoming first-team regulars at Old Trafford.
“Playing at the Emirates is something like never really happens. It’s a new experience, and then to score was something else… It wasn’t something you dream of, but it was great,” Mantato told MUTV.
“I’d say the Youth Cup is definitely the most important competition at academy level.
“To win it this season would be an amazing feeling and there’s many great players who have done it before, like Pogba and Lingard, so to win it again would be a great achievement for us.
“Being away from home, travelling and playing in a great stadium as well, Villa Park, they’ll have their fans and we’ll try come and beat them on their own pitch, so there’s some fire about it.”
FA Youth Cup final at Old Trafford would be brilliant occasion
It would be a brilliant occasion for the youth side to play in front of a packed Old Trafford in a cup final once again and it is unfortunate that they haven’t been able to play on the iconic pitch in the tournament so far this year.
The 2022 group hosted all but one of their FA Youth Cup fixtures at Old Trafford that season and it certainly helped in the development of the likes of Garnacho and Mainoo.
Funnily enough, those kids all played in front of a larger home crowd than any other Premier League player that wasn’t at United that season.
They will be hoping to reach the final and break the 69,000 record this season, but they have to focus on beating Villa on Monday night first of all.
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.