You will see our youngsters in the Premier League, reveals Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed that the club’s youth prospects will get their chance to play in the Premier League before the season ends. With Solskjaer and the club opting to sell a few first team stars, it has left space for the likes of Mason Greenwood, Angel Gomes and a few others to shine.
Manchester United outplayed Astana in a 1-0 game, with the Red Devils dominating the statistics board, showing that the scoreline never tells the real story. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side dominated possession, shots on goal, shots on target, tackles won and even passes, despite the Norwegian opting to play a younger squad in their first Europa League game. It saw Mason Greenwood, Angel Gomes, Tahith Chong, Axel Tuanzebe and Diogo Dalot get a chance to shine.
That’s exactly what they did, with Greenwood getting the only goal of the match and Angel Gomes practically running the game, flourishing in his first start of the season. This saw Solskjaer lavish his youngsters with praise in an interview with Soccer Saturday, adding that he wants them to express themselves and perform, so that they have a platform to build on.
"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 have 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,” said the Norwegian to Soccer Saturday.
"Give them guidance behind closed doors. Social media and the media these days is so different. We will try to help and guide them as much as we can. We know the other side of how it was back in the 70s and 80s, it is different now. We have a lot of background support here."
With Manchester United selling/letting go quite a few first team stars, this does give the youngsters a chance to shine and a chance to make their mark in various competitions. But the Norwegian believes that they can do the job in the Premier League, adding that the Europa League is the perfect way to judge his youngsters and see if they can make the step up.
“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,” concluded Solskjaer.