Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is energized by the capability of forward Anthony Elanga, who is in line to make his Manchester United senior debut against Granada in the Europa League.
Manchester United are away to the Spanish side on Thursday for the primary leg of their quarter-final and they will look forward to giving it a good start as they aim for the first silverware this season.
Elanga, 18, has been added to the United crew for the match and will go to Spain with the squad. The Swedish striker marked a fresh contract a month ago and Solskjaer demands he has been included with the travelling squad to earn some new experience and also show his preparation skills.
Solksjaer said: “He’ll be in the squad, he’ll be on the bench. He has impressed when he has been in training with us. He was very unlucky when he got a bad injury about two or three months ago because he was about to move into the first-team squad then. He has worked really hard to come back. He has got some x-factor, some attributes, it’s not like a gift, but the pace and acceleration and speed that he has got – that’s a given for wingers. When he’s got that speed, he’s always got qualities I like. He is a confident goalscoring winger. He has an appetite and hunger to improve and when he has been training with us the last while he has been here – he has not been fazed by it. He has a lot of quality, speed and he is a goalscorer. He likes to beat men and has a right foot and left foot. He has an appetite to develop and to keep learning. It’s not just for the experience. He’s ready to play a part.”
Regardless of whether his presentation doesn’t come against Granada, it seems like Elanga will highlight for United soon.
Center-back Eric Bailly is as yet in the Ivory Coast as he needs a negative Covid result prior to being permitted to return to England. Marcus Rashford, then, had to fall off against Brighton and Hove Albion and was a doubt going ahead, a match where he scored.
He will venture out to Spain subsequent to preparing on Wednesday yet Solskjaer won’t face any pointless challenges with the English forward. We expect to see him on the bench, but he is sure to travel as Solksjaer has confirmed in his fresh interview.
Granada are playing for the first time in such a major European Competition and are poised to reach deep into the competition. They are the first such team since RB Leipzig in 2017-18 arrived at the quarter-finals stage to reach so deep into this competition.
