Amid all the talk of new signings at Manchester United, it was an academy performance which had fans talking on Saturday afternoon before the Donny van de Beek news broke.
United’s under-23 side played out a competitive 3-3 draw with Huddersfield Town, with Mark Helm, Anthony Elanga, and Hannibal Mejbri’s on the scoresheet for the young Red Devils.
Mejbri, 17, is making quite an impression for United early in his career and plays like he is at least 20.
He is a regular for the under-23s and his performance in Saturday’s match was particularly intriguing.
Mejbri wore the number nine shirt and played almost as a ‘false nine’ flitting in between attack and midfield.
His goal was particularly well taken, after a cross from Arnau Puigmal from the left, Mejbri took one touch inside the box, before finishing with his right foot into the bottom corner.
Surrounded by Town players, Mejbri showed impressive composure to score the equalising goal.
Just as encouraging was his willingness to mix it in midfield and get involved with the combative side of the game.
His performance drew praise from BBC Sport’s Simon Stone, who wrote on Twitter: “On Mejbri earlier, looked very tidy. Think early crush of fixtures may offer more chance of opportunity in EFL Cup.”
Debut very likely this season
United could like many Premier League teams, play a full under-23 team in the EFL Cup.
Even if this was the case, it would be no less of an achievement for Mejbri if he were to make his debut this way.
He has made tremendous progress since joining United from Monaco a year ago and his versatility is an encouraging part of his game.
Mejbri can play deep and influence games with his long range passing. He showed on Saturday that he can flourish in a more attacking role too.
Amid a very competitive first team midfield, Mejbri will find it tough to break through as a regular, but he is also the type of exciting talent that United won’t be able to hold back for very long.
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