Januzaj: I Will Fight For My Place

Adnan Januzaj wants to fight for his place in the team after scoring the winner in Manchester United’s 1-0 victory at Villa Park on Friday.

The 20-year-old was recalled by Louis van Gaal for his first Premier League start since February in the no.10 position and netted the only goal of the game just before the half-hour mark.

The Belgian international didn't make the line-up or the bench for the opening game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur and van Gaal has denied rumours of a move away from Manchester, including a mooted loan move to Sunderland.

“It was only rumours," Adnan told Sky Sports. "I’m happy here and I want to fight for my place.”

He had replaced Ashley Young in the only change from the 1-0 win over Spurs last weekend and, after curling in his first United goal in 16 months, he promised there is more to come.

“It felt good to get the goal because I've not had a game for a long time and my fitness is not so good, so I'm happy to score for the team and score the winner,” he added. “I hope to have more games in my legs and hopefully score more goals.”

ANALYSIS: ADNAN'S VILLA PARK DISPLAY
By Adam Higgins

Back in the mix: Adnan earned his first Reds start since 11 February and the Belgian repaid Louis van Gaal’s faith with an eye-catching 60-minute display and the winning strike, his first league goal since the 4-0 victory over Newcastle on 5 April 2014. Louis van Gaal had insisted Januzaj is not for sale after rumoured interest in loan and permanent moves for the promising youngster.

Instant impact: Previously deployed on the flanks, he was handed a role in his favoured no.10 position and immediately sought to find pockets of space between the lines and, just before the half-hour mark, collected Juan Mata’s incisive pass to cut inside of Villa captain Micah Richards, steering his shot into the bottom corner and just inside the post via a slight deflection.

Creative spark: The young Belgian involved other team-mates with neat link-up play and by spreading the ball with several cross-field passes. He was keen to receive the ball at every available opportunity and confident in his own ability to try to engineer openings in the final third. Admittedly he didn’t have the same impact after the break and was replaced by Ander Herrera on the hour mark, but as he pointed out he is still building match sharpness. Nobody will be getting too carried away on he gave encouraging glimpses of the promise that propelled him to prominence during his breakthrough season, proving he is a contender for a starting place in van Gaal’s team.

Credit: Manutd.com