Nicky Butt – Gomes must make his own path

Nicky Butt is expecting big things from Manchester United youngster Angel Gomes, but says that he must make his own way if he is to succeed.

The 17-year old midfielder signed his first professional contract with the Red Devils yesterday, having made his debut at the end of last season against Crystal Palace.

Now he must work to make his own luck as he aims to replicate Marcus Rashford’s success.

Gomes has been tipped as the next big thing to off of United’s famed production line, having become the youngster player since Duncan Edwards to appear for United’s first-team.

Despite the high expectations, the Academy chief and former United player says it is down to the player to make things happen. Talking to MUTV, Butt said;

It’s easy to map out pathways but, ultimately, they make their own pathway.

They can always do well, go into different teams and blow it up straight away in the first five or six games and go on to the next one.

Some people go straight in the first team like Marcus [Rashford] and some people have three or four years in the reserves like Tom Cleverley.

Some mature quicker than others – some are men at 16 and some at 23, so it’s difficult to map an outline of a pathway as it’s up to the boy and how he does on the stepping stones along the way.

Butt has drawn up a plan for the midfielder, who has been at the club since he was six, and says he has the ability to go far.

He has big a future, but he still has a long way to go.

It’s not a case of signing the contract and going straight into the first team. To be honest, 90 per cent of the reason he made his debut were the circumstances regarding the following game [the Europa League final against Ajax], but it was a big pat on the back for what he’d done so far.

He’s a bright lad and he knows he has got a long way to go to stamp his authority in the first team. He needs to get in the reserves, settle in there, become a dominant player at reserve-team level and step up.

We try to push them as fast as we can now and stretch all the young lads. The youth team can become maybe a little too easy, so you push them on to the Reserves and see how it affects them in the transition period.

We have the Under-19s in between and he can always drop down into the youth team when big games come along that are challenging for the club and for him.