{"id":426613,"date":"2026-02-15T06:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/426613\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T06:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:40:11","slug":"jim-thwaites-earned-ultimate-praise-from-man-city-u18-players-before-he-scored-super-free-kick-for-man-utd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/426613\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Thwaites earned ultimate praise from Man City U18 players before he scored super free-kick for Man Utd"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Jim Thwaites is back from injury and better than ever for Manchester United.<\/p>\n

It flew under the radar that Manchester United\u2019s<\/a> most impressive midfield talent currently in the academy had missed such a length of time through injury.<\/p>\n

However, Jim Thwaites<\/a> was back as United\u2019s U18 side beat Man City 3-1<\/a>, returning as a second-half substitute in the derby day victory for Darren Fletcher\u2019s<\/a> side.<\/p>\n

Thwaites replaced Jay McEvoy<\/a> at half-time, and his evident quality immediately stood out both in his dictating of play and also his absolute expertise from a dead-ball situation.<\/p>\n

Will Manchester United\u2019s academy midfield group produce another world class talent? <\/p>\n

Scholes, Mainoo, ???? Who is the next one up?<\/p>\n

\"JayPhoto by Poppy Townson \u2013 MUFC\/Manchester United via Getty Images Jim Thwaites has superb comeback performance for Manchester United<\/p>\n

City presented a formidable opponent for United this weekend, the runaway league leaders, yet it looked like it was Fletcher\u2019s side who were in control all game long.<\/p>\n

The press from City didn\u2019t affect United, and it also weakened as the game went on, particularly when Thwaites was on the pitch.<\/p>\n

\"JimPhoto by Poppy Townson \u2013 MUFC\/Manchester United via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thwaites is completely press-resistant, and City clearly knew that as they dropped off him instead, which is massive praise from his peers that they rate him enough to not press, as he\u2019d only slice through them anyway. However, they failed to remember his elite passing.<\/p>\n

So with all the time in the world to pick out passes, Thwaites was launching balls from deep inside his own half to Chido Obi, with one almost being the assist of the season.<\/p>\n

This is no shock, as Thwaites\u2019 ability is well known<\/a>, but it was a reminder that United can\u2019t leave him in the academy for too long, as he is more than ready now to be playing for the first team.<\/p>\n

Thwaites has been compared with Pedri<\/a>, and Michael Carrick surely has no choice but to begin integrating him, with his quality rare in England. <\/p>\n

WHO is the most UNDERRATED academy talent at Manchester United right now? \ud83e\udd14\ud83d\udd25 <\/p>\n

JJ Gabriel and Shea Lacey are obviously exciting but who else are you excited by?<\/p>\n

\"AmirPhoto by Manchester United\/Manchester United via Getty Images Jim Thwaites extends David Beckham comparisons with excellent free-kick<\/p>\n

Not only was it a brilliant cameo from Thwaites in terms of his passing and controlling of the game, but he also added another wonderful free-kick to his catalogue.<\/p>\n

From the right side of the box, it wasn\u2019t the perfect angle for Thwaites, yet he caught it perfectly. With his right foot, he curled it away from goal and the goalkeeper into the far top corner with precision.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the free-kick was almost a carbon copy, but upgraded, of the free-kick he scored against City earlier this season.<\/p>\n

Thwaites has been compared with David Beckham<\/a> for his free-kick scoring and corner deliveries, with elite technique and ball striking.<\/p>\n

United have a special talent in Thwaites and he deserves a chance to rival Tyler Fletcher.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Jim Thwaites is back from injury and better than ever for Manchester…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,156485,147228,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-426613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gb","tag-jim-thwaites","tag-sir-david-beckham","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426613","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=426613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}