Jim Thwaites could be set for an exciting next season, and he’s already had the perfect education to be unleashed when it comes.
The set-piece mastery made Jim Thwaites go viral at the academy level at Carrington, but he’s shown since that he’s more than just a highlight reel.
Thwaites caught Amorim’s eye on the post-season tour last season and has continued to add to his game this season.
In a successful campaign with the U18s this year, Michael Carrick recently rewarded Thwaites with a first-term berth against Chelsea, and now Darren Fletcher has insinuated that he has already received the perfect education to be unleashed next season.
Which player does Jim Thwaites remind you of?
Do you think he will make it in the first team at Man Utd?
Darren Fletcher has worked perfectly with Jim Thwaites
Thwaites always had the footballing intelligence and technical skill to excel in senior football.
However, modern football punishes players who just excel with the ball, because off-the-ball work is equally important.
That is where Thwaites has shown the most growth this season, increasingly going into duels and tackling with abandon.
It has allowed Fletcher to deploy Thwaites as a deeper midfielder without the midfield getting overrun, showing how much the youngster has worked on that aspect.
In a recent episode of Inside Carrington, Fletcher insinuated that Thwaites becoming an all-round midfielder is not a coincidence, because he specifically works with young CMs to make them complete.
He said: “We were brought up to be the all-around midfielder. So I think if you look at the history of the club they’re the role models. It is Bryan Robson, it’s Paul Ince, it’s Roy Keane, it’s Nicky Butt; they have specialists within that.
“But we were always brought up [with the coaching] that you did everything. You attacked, you ran forward, you ran back, you became the all-around midfielder, and that’s something that I strive to do [with youngsters].”
Fletcher’s coaching of Thwaites will bear fruit next season
Thwaites will be promoted from the U18s level next season as he turns 19 in December, and that comes at the perfect time for him.
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Fletcher has already improved his game by leaps and bounds due to his philosophy of creating all-rounders in midfield.
Even if he were to go on loan to an English league team (which he shouldn’t), he is now much more equipped to deal with that physicality than he was at the start of this season.
That is all down to Fletcher’s focus on getting the weaker parts of his game up to speed, and to Thwaites for taking in the feedback and working on it.
The result is a player who is en route to becoming a complete midfielder who, in ideal circumstances, should be a contributor to Man Utd’s first team next season.
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