United Squad Energised By Injection Of Youth

Louis van Gaal says the emergence of a host of young Manchester United Academy products in the first-team squad has helped to energise the other players.

Teenage prospects Marcus Rashford (pictured) and Regan Poole both took part in Wednesday's pre-match training session, as did goalkeeper Joel Castro Pereira and recent debutants Donald Love and Joe Riley. Young full-backs Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Guillermo Varela are also among the players who have made impressive senior bows this term during some testing and injury-ravaged times for the Reds.

Van Gaal, who confirmed that striker Rashford "is an option" for his squad to face FC Midtjylland, has been delighted with the way the budding stars have handled the pressure and he spoke of how they have acted as a source of motivation for everyone.

"Of course that’s also why we had a small squad at the beginning of the season because you can then give chances to the young players," the manager told MUTV.

"I’m always really convinced of youth players and how they can stimulate the other players and raise the atmosphere in the dressing room. Those kinds of things are happening now.

“I’m also always convinced that they play their first match very well and maybe the second, but when you get to the third it’s about consistency and that’s very important for youth players.”

Marcos Rojo is set to be on the bench for tonight’s Europa League tie, while Antonio Valencia and the cup-tied Adnan Januzaj are nearing full fitness. It’s welcome news for van Gaal after the injury count crept into double figures recently leading to the need to turn to the youth ranks. The boss remains hopeful the casualty list will begin to ease in the coming weeks, however, with games coming thick and fast.

“It is so important [to get players back from injury] because I can never play with the same line-up. I always have to change because we have a lot of players [injured] in the same position so I have to sort positions that are not typical for the players who have to play there,” he explained. “So it is very difficult and with a small selection now, around 13 or 14 [senior] players, you cannot play a full programme.

“We are still in three competitions, not many clubs can say that but we can. We want that to continue because the Europa League is important as it can give us a Champions League position and the FA Cup is a cup that we haven’t won for a long time. Also we’re still fifth in the league and we can still finish in the top four at the end of the season.”