Manchester United’s youngsters will be given more than enough chances to prove that they have what it takes to make it at Old Trafford, but, obviously, they will have to take them when they come.
The majority of United’s Tour 2010 squad is filled young players, so with five pre-season matches in North America they will all have the chance to see if they can make the grade at United. The 22-man squad that Sir Alex Ferguson selected includes no fewer than 15 players under the tender age of 23.
With all of the key injuries to defenders that United faced last season, Ferguson will want to groom and prepare his young players to be able to fill in for the injuries.
Goalkeeping
Edwin van der Sar will be Ferguson’s first-choice until the big Dutchman calls it a day on his illustrious career, but for Ben Amos, this is a chance to show the United manager that he will be ready to fill his spot in the first-team.
Amos replaced the since-departed Ben Foster as the third-choice goalkeeping spot on the United roster, but he has a lot to prove if he intends to make a case to be van der Sar’s long-term replacement.
The 20-year old goalkeeper has only made one first-team appearance, which was in the Carling Cup in October of 2009, but now that he is only second in line, he should be able to see more playing time in the cup competitions.
Despite so few first-team appearances, the Tour 2010 is the third pre-season tour that Amos has taken part of as he was selected for both the tour of South Africa in 2008 and Asia 2009.
Defense
There are five young defenders in the squad who will be looking to lock down a place in the first-team squad ahead of their elder statesman next season. Richie De Laet, Jonny Evans, Fabio & Rafael da Silva and Chris Smalling will all be looking to enhance their growing reputations.
To somewhat of a surprise, Ferguson partnered Evans and Smalling in the center of United’s defense and played both Fabio and Rafael as his full-backs against Celtic F.C. De Laet came on midway through the second-half to replace Rafael at right-back.
Both the da Silva twins were impressive as they seemed to fly up and down the wings creating or being an option for the United attack.
Fabio faces a stiff challenge as he tries to unseat Patrice Evra who was one of the star performers for United last season. Due to injuries and playing behind one of the best left-backs in world football, Fabio has only made five appearances since joining the club in 2008.
Rafael, who has already made 44 first-team appearances for United, faces an even bigger challenge as he is behind three players John O’Shea, Wes Brown and club captain, Gary Neville. Once he gets his chance, he will need to put in very good performances week in, week out if he wants to retain it if he is to add to his appearance total.
The upside of these two full-backs is tremendous, but they have to learn better discipline as both of them were sent off in matches last season for United.
Smalling, who has just arrived from Fulham, played a full 90 minutes for Sir Alex against Celtic, and it was a mixed performance for the young center-back.
The 20-year old showed that he has confidence and composure on the ball and he is immense in the air, but Smalling also showed signs of lazy defending. Smalling was at fault when a ball over the top fell in between him and Wes Brown, and the big defender used his arms to pull Joe Ledley back which led to the Celtic equalizer.
Despite being only 22-years old, Evans was seen as the most experienced player in the United back-four against Celtic, and the central defender is all but guaranteed a future for years to come at United.
Ferguson has already shown his confidence in the Northern Ireland defender by selecting him to play in the biggest of matches and against some of the best center forwards in the world.
Over the past five seasons, the champions of the Barclays Premier League title have all had a formidable back-four and goalkeeper, so if the young players on this tour want to break into Manchester United’s first-team, they will all need to perform at the highest of levels.
Squad
Goalkeepers: E. van der Sar, T. Kuszczak, B. Amos; Defenders: W. Brown, R. De Laet, J. Evans, Fabio, J.O'Shea, Rafael, C. Smalling; Midfielders: T. Cleverley, D. Fletcher, C. Evans, D. Gibson, R. Giggs, Nani, G. Obertan, P. Scholes; Forwards: D. Berbatov, M. B. Diouf, J. Hernandez (Houston - 7/27), F. Macheda, D. Welbeck
Visit One United USA's official Tour 2010 site - unitedinthestates.blogspot.com - for the latest updates and information about the training sessions for the United States part of the tour.
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