According to the head of Manchester United’s Academy, Nick Cox, Rúben Amorim has “real faith” in one young star who fans called “crazy” for his performance against Arsenal.
In the last few months, Rúben Amorim has become much more comfortable using Manchester United’s Academy talent within his first-team squad.
Amid the club’s current injury issues, United have seen debuts for teenagers such as Chido Obi, Ayden Heaven, and Harry Amass in recent weeks.
However, it was not always this way. Last month, fans blasted the United head coach for naming eight Academy players on the bench for an away tie against Tottenham Hotspur without giving any of them a chance despite the side trudging to a 1-0 loss on the evening.
But with multiple games a week coming up in the next few months, and as he gets to know the young players better, Amorim is expected to start leaning more heavily on the young Academy products learning their craft at Carrington.
Amorim has “real faith” in “crazy” midfielder
Amid the increased involvement of Academy players in first-team training and squads, Manchester Evening News writer Steven Railston travelled to Carrington and sat down with United’s head of Academy Nick Cox.
The pair spoke at length about the club’s youth system and Amoirm’s involvement with the young players, and when questioned about Amorim’s commitment to the teenage players amid criticism, the 47-year-old leaped to the head coach’s defence.
Cox used the example of Toby Collyer, who fans raved about as a “crazy” player following a fantastic cameo against Arsenal in January as a player Amorim now has “real faith” in following nine appearances under the 40-year-old.
“You’ve heard him talk about it,” Cox said. “He takes great pride in the work he’s done away from here in terms of debuting young players, and you can only measure a man by his actions.
“There are players in the team, in the first-team squad,s and there have been debuts given. You’re starting to see him put real faith in Toby Collyer.
“He obviously has a real excitement about young players and helping them, but listen, they have to be good enough, there’s no favours or charity given. It’s exciting times for the young players.”
Several more Academy players set for debuts
With Obi, Collyer, Heaven, and Amass all getting their chances of late, it’s expected that more teenagers will be given their chances to impress in the next two months.
United are playing around two fixtures a week for the rest of the campaign, assuming they reach the Europa League semi-finals at least, and Amorim will need to use as many players as he can to keep his squad fresh.
Bendito Mantato is one player who Amorim is reportedly eyeing for a debut before the end of the season, while Sekou Kone is said to be another the head coach trusts as a future first-team player.
Amorim is also said to appreciate Jack Moorehouse and Jack Fletcher, two other midfield talents who have been touted as prospects for Amorim in the future.
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