If you’re a young player looking to force your way into the first-team set up, it’s always a positive sign when you receive a new shirt number.
Take Kobbie Mainoo, for instance. He ended 2022/23 with number 73 but was then upgraded to 37 before shining during last summer’s pre-season tour.
12 months on, Mainoo is just about the first name on Manchester United’s team sheet.
Fellow Carrington graduate Ethan Wheatley, meanwhile, made his senior debut against Sheffield United in the spring with 84 on his back. Now, the prolific centre-forward dons 36.
Left-back Harry Amass, meanwhile, has gone from 70 to 41. He is yet to make his own bow but, with Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia both still struggling with injury, it should not be far away.
Especially with Man United’s Under 21 coach Trevor Binnion explaining in great detail how Amass has taken his game to an all-new level after joining from Watford under the noses of Chelsea.
Ethan Wheatley and Harry Amass progress at Manchester United
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Binnion was full of praise for Wheatley too.
After eight goals in seven games for United in the U18 Premier League, the Stockport-born centre-forward has made the step up to Under 21 level look relatively straightforward.
“Over the last year, Amass and Wheatley have progressed a lot. A hell of a lot,” Binnion explains. “Ethan Wheatley in particular has turned into a real eye-catching centre forward. His profile is one that managers like because he’s lean, quick and tall.
“If you drew a number nine, you’d draw him looking like Ethan. But his game has come on leaps and bounds. Knowing where to run and his link-up play has improved, and being in better positions.
“He’s spent around 12 to 13 weeks consistently training with the first-team, just like Harry. And I think, within that environment, particularly when you’re having to play like they did in pre-season, you’re able to learn quicker. The good players always do in that situation.
“Equally, if you find it hard in that environment, it can be an unforgiving place to be because the level is possibly too high if you’re struggling. You find out a lot about yourself in terms of your game, but you also find out a lot about yourself as a person and as a professional as well.”
Erik ten Hag hopes United have another Kobbie Mainoo
Wheatley featured during those summer friendlies. Alongside former Arsenal wonderkid Chido Obi-Martin, the England Under 18 international could compete for the role of third-choice striker this term.
Wheatley was United’s top scorer during last season’s double-winning campaign, the Red Devils triumphing in both the U18 Premier League and the U18 Premier League Cup.
Amass was also a revelation at that level. Almost a baby-faced clone of Shaw in the way he scuttles down the left before fizzing in crosses, Amass set up Amad Diallo’s goal against Real Betis over in the USA with Ten Hag feeling that he could soon be in contention to make a Mainoo-esque breakthrough into the first-team.
The United boss adds, however, that Amass still has a lot to learn. A feeling Binnion shares.
“Harry’s very good on the ball. He can defend well, but he knows a big part of his game is wider defending to ensure he deals with movement and defending space in behind,” Binnion adds.
“His game in possession is in a really good place and he’s physically capable. But he knows that he’s got to keep working, as most full-backs have, in their defensive moments.”
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