Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that he is just waiting for a little bit of time before he unleashes his youngsters in the Premier League.
United’s Academy products Mason Greenwood, Angel Gomes, and Tahith Chong were all named in the side for Thursday’s 1-0 victory against Astana in the Europa League. Along with the youth team players, another youngster in the form of Marcus Rashford started but it was Greenwood who grabbed the headlines, the 17-year-old forward scoring the only goal of the game to become his side’s youngest ever goalscorer in any European competition.
Solskjaer has promised to continue playing his young players in cup competitions with the aim of getting them ready for regular Premier League action and the 46-year-old has recently spoken on the aim to promote youth but it still takes a bit of grooming for the young academy players to take the giant step forward.
The Norwegian spoke to reporters at Sky Sports and said, he is happy with the young buys showing their talents but they also can feel the heat of the pressure so need to be guided to live up to their potential, “You learn quite a lot when playing the youngsters. You want them to go out and express themselves, to go out and perform so that has a platform to build on. I thought it paid off [against Astana]. I understand that some of the boys, sometimes they can feel the heat, but I thought they were excellent. Of course, we must protect them; find the right moment to put them in. Give them guidance behind closed doors. They’re almost ready [to play in the Premier League]. That’s why they’re with us, why they’re training with us and they have done well in training. The young boys now – you will see them enough. You will see them in the Europa League, the FA Cup the Carabao Cup and maybe a little bit in the Premier League. I think it’s about time they had some exposure to see if they are ready to play in the Premier League”
