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Erik ten Hag has laid down a challenge to Harry Amass to continue his progression in the Manchester United first-team by revealing he has the potential to match what Kobbie Mainoo did last season.
Amass, 17, has been one of the biggest surprises on United’s pre-season tour, starting all three of the club’s matches in the US in the absence of both of Ten Hag’s senior left-backs.
Luke Shaw’s involvement with England at EURO 2024 means he has not joined the senior squad on tour while Tyrell Malacia’s long-term absence with injury continues to rule him out.
In their stead, Amass has grabbed the starting berth at left-back with both hands.
And while the fullback’s defensive ability has been questionable at times, as would be expected for a player so young making their first foray into men’s football, his technique is unquestioned. He has also handled the physical challenge well, suggesting he is ready to contribute far earlier than his age may have suggested.
The injury concerns of both Shaw and Malacia, which saw them ruled out for long periods of last season, were believed to have made a new left-back a priority for United this summer.
However, most attention at fullback has been dedicated to opposite flank, with a deal to sign Bayern Munich right-back Noussair Mazraoui increasingly close to being agreed. Aaron Wan-Bissaka is likely to head to West Ham to facilitate the move.
Mazraoui, 26, is a technically gifted fullback who is capable of playing left-back, as he has done many times for Morocco. He does suffer from his own injury concerns, however, having only played around half of Bayern’s leagues games in the two seasons since he joined from Ajax on a free transfer.
There is, therefore, the potential for a left-back to forge a secure spot for themselves in Ten Hag’s squad this season, with considerable questions marks over the fitness of other options.
And the Dutch manager has laid down the gauntlet for the 17-year-old Amass to rise to the challenge, believing the left-back has the potential to “be at that point” that Mainoo reached last season, when the England international firmly established himself in United’s starting eleven.
“[Amass] is not that far along now [as Mainoo was] at this moment… but if we train him well, if we coach him well, then in three months it’s possible that he can be at that point,” Ten Hag stated.
With the budget at Old Trafford considerably stretched this summer, and reinforcements desperately needed in central defence and central midfield, Amass may offer an antidote to an ailment at left-back which had a devastating effect last season. He will just have to work hard to do so, as Mainoo did before him.
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