Scholes Has Faith In Kids

Paul Scholes is backing United's youngsters to justify his faith in their ability after working closely with the Reserves who have been promoted to the DHL tour squad.

The veteran midfielder has always been a huge advocate of Jesse Lingard and played alongside the teenager in midfield against AmaZulu while Marnick Vermijl, Davide Petrucci and Federico Macheda also trained with him last term. The quartet all played a part in the 1-0 victory in Durban and Scholes is fully aware of their potential.

"I'm glad these young players are here," he informed MUTV. "For the first half of last year, I worked with a lot of these players and know what potential they've got and how good they can be.

"They proved that in the Reserves last year and went on to win nearly everything they were in, I think, and now this is a big chance for them to step up to the first team and show what they can do. On the evidence of the game the other night, they all stepped up and played really well."

When asked whether his view was shaped by actually coaching the players himself, Scholes was quick to deflect praise onto Reserves boss Warren Joyce.

"It's no different," he asserted. "I was only helping Warren really for two or three months before I came back playing. But Warren looked after those lads. He's really helped make them become what they are today. They are all good players who work really hard and are desperate to do well. We just need me, Rio and Michael to reinforce that while we're on this trip to make sure they're always at it and ready to play."