Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is committed to integrating youth players into his first-team squad.
In the Dutchman’s column for United Review, the boss revealed that he has regular discussions with assistant manager Ryan Giggs and youth team coach Nicky Butt on which youngsters to promote to the first team.
The likes of Jesse Lingard, James Wilson, Andreas Pereira and Paddy McNair have all made the step up to first-team action while the likes of James Weir, Sean Goss and Timothy Fosu-Mensah have all been invited to train with the first-team in recent times.
van Gaal is determined to continue that trend, and also praised Lingard and Pereira on their progress and recent form, saying:
It has always been part of my own philosophy and that of the club to give opportunities to youth players.
Jesse Lingard is one of those players who was given a chance to play in the last three matches and he has taken that opportunity to show what he is capable of and to prove that he deserves to be a member of the first-team squad.
I have been delighted with the progress that he continues to make, along with Andreas Pereira, who played against Ipswich Town and scored his first senior competitive goal. With advice from Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt, I regularly invite members of the development squad to train alongside the first team. It gives them a chance to step up their training and to improve their technical ability.
A good example would be Paddy McNair. He trained a number of times with the first team, which helped him prepare physically and mentally so that it wasn’t such a big step when he was called upon to the first team.
