{"id":281085,"date":"2025-11-24T18:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/281085\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:55:10","slug":"ruben-amorim-could-be-about-to-debut-a-man-utd-wonderkid-picked-out-by-ten-hag-for-a-one-to-one-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/281085\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruben Amorim could be about to debut a Man Utd wonderkid picked out by Ten Hag for a &#8216;one-to-one&#8217; meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Academy debuts haven\u2019t been the priority for Ruben Amorim so far this season as he has come to grips with the pressure at Man Utd, but that could be about to change in a big way. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/ruben-amorim\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ruben Amorim<\/a> recently fielded a lot of questions about the academy, especially as the festive fixture list will necessitate rotation, along with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/ruben-amorim-has-clear-plan-for-man-utd-wonderkids-debut-to-replace-bryan-mbeumo-and-amad-during-afcon\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">impending AFCON departure<\/a> of three players. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/ruben-amorim-says-shea-lacey-is-ready-to-step-up-after-what-he-has-seen-in-man-utd-training\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Amorim has already stressed<\/a> that he will look to the academy to help the first team, after making it clear that no token debuts will be given.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mail.png\" alt=\"mail icon\"\/>Join our newsletter for news &amp; smart analysis. <\/p>\n<p>The first debut this season from the academy could now go to a player who was once picked out by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/erik-ten-hag\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Erik ten Hag<\/a> for a one-to-one meeting. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2224127502-2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Shea Lacey of Manchester United in action during a first team training session at Carrington Training Ground on July 07, 2025\" class=\"wp-image-284977\" \/>Photo by Manchester United\/Manchester UnitedShea Lacey close to Man Utd debut<\/p>\n<p>In Amad and Bryan Mbeumo, Amorim will lose two nifty and slick left-footed attackers for a month when AFCON rolls around.<\/p>\n<p>It is increasingly looking like he has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/opinion\/ruben-amorim-calls-up-shea-lacey-and-18-year-old-man-utd-wonderkid-to-training-as-race-to-debut-hots-up\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">identified two wonderkids of a similar profile<\/a> to compensate for their departure by promoting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/jack-fletcher\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jack Fletcher<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/shea-lacey\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shea Lacey<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Lacey has long been a name spoken about in excited tones at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/club\/training-ground\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carrington<\/a>, with only his injury worries holding him back. <\/p>\n<p>        Are you excited for World Cup 2026 in the USA?       <\/p>\n<p>However, in his recent comeback, he seems to have put those behind him, and after some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/academy\/two-man-utd-wonderkids-prove-theyre-ready-for-senior-football-one-was-unstoppable-against-pros\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">irresistible performances for the U21s<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/opinion\/fearless-man-united-academy-star-has-been-tearing-it-up-in-training-breakthrough-is-imminent\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">impressive training displays<\/a>, he\u2019s knocking on the door.<\/p>\n<p>It would be poetic if this season\u2019s first academy debutant is Lacey, because he was a player identified by Erik ten Hag as well, for having huge potential. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-15198271\/Shea-Lacey-Manchester-United-Scouse-Ruben-Amorim-Phil-Foden.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The Daily Mail<\/a> reported back in October that Lacey was among the special few from the academy who were selected by Ten Hag for a one-to-one meeting when he took charge.<\/p>\n<p>For all his faults at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/club\/stadium\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Old Trafford<\/a>, Ten Hag\u2019s identification and handling of youngsters can\u2019t be faulted, and now that Amorim has reached the same conclusion about Lacey, it\u2019s hard not to get excited. <\/p>\n<p>Lacey\u2019s breakthrough can open the floodgates<\/p>\n<p>One can\u2019t help but think that Amorim has been burned by giving too many minutes to youngsters in a less-than-ideal scenario last season. <\/p>\n<p>He has already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/ruben-amorim-says-he-played-one-man-utd-player-too-soon-out-of-necessity-in-brutally-honest-admission\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">spoken with brutal honesty about Chido Obi<\/a> and how he was thrown into the deep end before he was ready, and the same goes for the likes of Ayden Heaven, who has seen his minutes reduced. <\/p>\n<p>That nightmare of last season is keeping Amorim from giving youngsters more minutes, but that can change if Lacey takes his chance. <\/p>\n<p>Amorim has stressed the importance of deserving the minutes, so if Lacey proves to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/club\/manager\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Man Utd manager<\/a> that he\u2019s ready for this chance, it will pave the way for more youngsters. <\/p>\n<p>One must not forget that Amorim was a huge champion of youth at Sporting. At United, he has had a poor first experience.<\/p>\n<p>Lacey can start putting that right. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Academy debuts haven\u2019t been the priority for Ruben Amorim so far this season as he has come to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[3975,218,451,81962,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-281085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-erik-ten-hag","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ruben-amorim","11":"tag-shea-lacey","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}