This is a bit of frivolous speculation but which of our players aged 21 or younger would you class as having the best potential? Clearly rates of development are variable and some of the top regarded youngsters can flop like Morrison and some of those who go under the radar can end up as regular first teamers. It's also harder to assess the much younger players like Shola Shoretire etc as not many of us have seen a lot of them. However, it'd be nice to get a sense of what the current perceptions are, especially among people who watch the reserves and academy frequently (which I'm not so am going on limited info). Any realistic formation welcome. 4231 (some players moved to secondary positions to make it fit) - GK: Dean Henderson RB: Ethan Laird LB: Diogo Dalot CD: Axel Tuanzebe and Lee O'Connor CM: Jimmy Garner and Aliou Traore RW: Tahith Chong LW: Marcus Rashford AM: Angel Gomes ST: Mason Greenwood Is this fair or am I missing or overrating anyone? Do you currently believe all of these players have the potential to be regular first teamers (that aren't already, obviously)? Are there any players not currently first team regulars that you'd consider pretty much certain to become regulars?
RWB: Ethan Laird LWB: Brandon Williams CD: Axel Tuanzebe, Lee O'Connor, Teden Mengi CM: Gomes RAM: Greenwood LAM: Anthony Elanga AM: Angel Gomes ST: Rashford
Dean Henderson Ethan Laird, Lukasz Bejger, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams James Garner, Aliou Traore, Angel Gomes Tahith Chong, Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford
Henderson Laird, Tuanzebe, O'Connor, Williams Garner, Levitt, Traore Gomes, Greenwoon, Chong Rashford and Dalot out of projection as both are already first team players. Did not see much of Bejger and Mengi still, both look promising till now. Subs: Bejger, Mengi, Elanga, Traore, Puigmal
High hopes on Garner and Greenwood, Who else you think can make it as a regular first teamer in next 2/3 years ? Seems Chong and Gomes are fading away?
GK. Henderson RB. Laird LB. Dalot CB. Tuenzebe CB. Mengi MF. Garner MF. Traore MF. Gomes FW. Chong FW. Rashford FW. Greenwood * O'conner is right there with the others anywhere across the back 4 * Puigmal ( playing RB this season ) and Levitt very good midfielders * Really like the look of Elanga
GK: Henderson RB: Laird CB: Mengi CB: Tuanzebe LB: B.Williams CM: Levitt CM: Garner AM: Gomes RW: Chong ST: Greenwood LW: Rashford I'd say these are our best prospects per position, although I've shoehorned Rashford in at LW. Notable mentions to those who didn't make my cut; Traore, Elanga, Fosu-Mensah and O'Connor, I quite like the look of Charlie McCann as well although he's still a bit under the radar at the moment. Devine, Shoretire, H.Neville and Bejger are meant to be highly rated although I've not seen much of them yet. From what I've seen of them so far Levitt is the better prospect than Traore and likewise Laird with Dalot (I don't think his long term future is LB either, he's definitely a RB). I don't think anyone's a certainty for first team football, rarely anyone is. I'd say if they have the right attitude and keep churning out quality performances, realistically we could see at most 3/4 of them being consistently in and around the first team (starting 11 and bench), with 6/7 filling a squad role at some point before being moved on. Gomes has been our best player this season and Chong is still very good, just needs to improve his decision making and tempo to his game as well as the obvious bulking up.
