The future is looking extremely bright for Man Utd after an inexperienced side featuring four debutants eased to a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on the final day of the season. Jose Mourinho had bigger fish to fry last night, with the Europa League final against Ajax and a Champions League place as the prize, so he gave youth a chance in the game on Sunday. And the youngsters delivered exceptionally well.
Josh Harrop picked up man of the match on Sunday, scoring a superb opening goal, constantly demanding the ball and looking bright and dangerous throughout. Demetri Mitchell put in an assured performance at left-back, Scott McTominay was relatively solid and a strong physical presence in midfield and Joel Pereira looked composed in goal. Alongside this quartet – which had an average age of 22 – there were inexperienced players that were not making their debuts, but still have seen little game time. Axel Tuanzebe was impressive, as was Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
On Sunday it was a Crystal Palace side that recently beat Chelsea and Arsenal, and Man Utd’s kids ran rings around them. But how many of them will get a game next season? The odds are slim but improving you would have to say. Historically Mourinho has not exactly one to give youth an opportunity to flourish. After all, he sold Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku while at Chelsea because he wanted players that were the finished article.
Marcus Rashford started in the Europa League final last night and showed again why he is held in such high regard with another solid performance as he led the line impressively as United secured the only trophy missing from their cabinet. Jesse Lingard also came on as a sub in the comprehensive 2-0 win which saw the two players fly the flag for the United academy showing the club’s other youngsters what can happen if they work hard for their chance with the 1st team. So Jose Mourinho seems to be now be more willing to use his quality starlets as his trust in Rashford and Lingard has revealed so this should be incentive enough for United’s academy players being groomed by former star Nicky Butt.
Man Utd broke the bank to sign Paul Pogba last summer and to meet Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s wage demands, and they are likely to go all out again this time around to try to sign two or three truly world-class stars as they try to catch up on Chelsea at the top of the table. Utd were going to spend money regardless of whether or not they qualified for the Champions League, but you had a feeling that some players would only join if they were guaranteed Champions League football.
That of course will no longer be a problem: William Hill had the best odds for the Europa League final, as it had Man Utd as 4/9 to lift the trophy. Ajax were decent and full of youthful exuberance, but struggled away from their stadium and are not as accomplished as Utd and so it proved last night as United looked far to experienced and accomplished for the Dutch side. Mourinho had been obsessing over this game for weeks, fielding inexperienced sides in the league in the meantime, and he had set his charges up to thwart Ajax at every turn. They missed Ibrahimovic, but the likes of Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard compensated for that with their youthful pace and enthusiasm and delivered the win.
Now Mourinho can turn his focus to the transfer market and he said in his post-game interview last night that he is going on much needed holiday now, having left his preferred transfer targets in the hands of Ed Woodward and the United board in the hopes that they can be secured. The United boss said he has known his targets for a couple of months. The Red-Devils are being linked with the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Neymar, Gareth Bale, Bernardo Silva, Michael Keane, James Rodriguez and Kylian Mbappe. It is clear that Utd are going to land some of the world’s top stars this summer. It could be bad news for Fosu-Mensah, Tuanzebe et al, but it should prove an exciting summer for the Old Trafford faithful regardless as the club can look forward to a return to the premier club football tournament and most likely an improved league campaign with the current players knowing each other that much better now.