Former Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra has reacted to the praise given to him by academy defender Willy Kambwala.
Willy Kambwala made his debut for Manchester United against West Ham United at the London Stadium in the game before Christmas and the teenager was impressive.
Since then, however, the defender has not started a game for the Red Devils but has remained on the bench for United and has been brought on for a handful of substitute appearances by Erik ten Hag.
Kambwala is one of the latest in a long line of academy players that have been given a chance by Ten Hag and the defender certainly won’t be the last to receive his chance.
Kambwala and Evra
Speaking to the United website about Patrice Evra, the defender said: ““I was like ‘okay, if he did it from here, I can do it as well’. We had a main building [at Les Ulis] with all the shirts on the wall and I was like ‘yeah, one day I want my shirt to be on this wall’.
“So it was really inspirational. Every coach over there was talking about [those players] because they had them when they were kids. It helps you to know what you have to do.”
On Instagram, the French left-back has responded to the defender’s praise and said: “That’s all we asked, passion and love.
“Well done Wills, I’m proud of you.”
Kambwala joined United’s academy from Sochaux in 2020 and was seen as a promising defender and he is finally breaking through into the first team.
United’s promising academy team
One thing that the club has done well in recent years is their academy recruitment and how they have brought these players into the first team.
Alejandro Garnacho was brought in from Atletico Madrid and is now breaking into the first team and proving to be a vital cog and the same can be said of Kobbie Mainoo.
The hope for Kambwala, and Evra, is that the 20-year-old defender can become a first-team regular.
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