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Manchester United’s injury crisis has forced Erik ten Hag to take gamble on academy talents — a move that has yielded mixed results so far.
Injuries to Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof, and Jonny Evans have opened doors for Willy Kambwala to accumulate some vital first-team minutes under his belt in recent weeks.
The French centre-back made headlines with his solid performance against Liverpool, but at Bournemouth, he attracted the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, failing to keep up with Dominic Solanke all afternoon.
Fortunately for the Man United academy product, Ten Hag has shown plenty of patience with young players and should continue to hand him more chances moving forward.
In fact, the former Ajax boss was ready to open first-team doors for another academy defender last month.
According to The Sun, Ten Hag would have liked to involve Sonny Aljofree in some capacity against Liverpool in the FA Cup clash.
However, the home-grown defender, who captains United’s Under-21s in Premier League 2, missed out on a fantastic opportunity due to a “little-known” loan ruling.
The Plymouth-born defender has been on a joint registration deal with National League outfit Altrincham since February 1.
Accordingly, the joint loan system has made Aljofree ineligible for the United first team for the ongoing campaign.
Aljofree — son of former United youth player Hasney – has made 16 appearances in PL 2 and has impressed with his defensive acumen.
Considering the trend under the Dutch coach, if the 19-year-old maintains his form he should bag a spot in the senior squad soon.
Apart from Kambwala and Aljofree, Habeeb Ogunneye and Harry Amass have also attracted the attention of Ten Hag’s backroom staff with their defensive showings for United’s youth sides.
Both Ogunneye (right-back) and Amass (left-back) were named on the first-team bench against Liverpool in the Premier League earlier this month.
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