5 Man Utd academy graduates who could get game time under Erik ten Hag next season

• These Manchester United academy graduates could earn themselves some minutes under Erik ten Hag next season.
• Manchester United are renowned for promoting players from their academy into their first team with four graduates making their senior debuts for the club last season.
• Many of those graduates have gone on to become established first team players at Old Trafford and an integral part of the club’s success in the past.

The Red Devils appointed Erik ten Hag as their new manager in May with the hope the Dutchman continues their values of using their youth players in the senior team.

Ten Hag is known for trusting younger stars having brought through the likes of Ryan Gravenberch and Jurrien Timber at Ajax. Now it looks as if he will repeat this notion at Old Trafford.

United won their first game under Ten Hag on Tuesday. The Red Devils beat rivals Liverpool 4-0 in Thailand in their opening pre-season fixture.

The new Red Devils boss opted to play several younger players in his second-half starting 11, including Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage, prompting whether we could see a number of academy graduate under Ten Hag next season.

With that being said, we take a look at five United academy graduates who could feature under Ten Hag in the new campaign.

Alejandro Garnacho

Alejandro Garnacho made his senior debut for United last season against Chelsea after impressing for their Under-23 and U18 sides.

The 18-year-old, who is capped at U20 level for Argentina, helped the Red Devils lift the FA Youth Cup last campaign and is part of Ten Hag’s 31-man squad for the club’s tour of Thailand and Australia.

Zidane Iqbal

Iqbal was praised for his performance against Liverpool on Tuesday, especially after he remained composed from Fabinho’s press, turning the experienced midfielder.

The Iranian international can play either as a central-midfielder or as a no.10, and will be hoping to continue to show his potential to Ten Hag during pre-season.

Hannibal

Another midfielder who has a lot of potential is Hannibal. The 19-year-old has three appearances to his name for United and has established himself as a regular for the Tunisian national team.

Facundo Pellistri

Facundo Pellistri was on the scoresheet for United in their win over Liverpool. The Uruguayan netted their fourth goal, slitting the ball nicely into the left corner of Alisson’s goal.

Despite not scoring or providing an assist for Alaves during an 18-month loan spell with the Spanish club, he will now be hoping to break into Ten Hag’s first team next season.

James Garner

The obvious choice amongst many United fans as to which academy graduate should feature in the first team in the new campaign, James Garner was a standout performer during his loan spell with Nottingham Forest last season and helped them achieve promotion to the Premier League for the first time since 1999.

His set-piece taking and distribution of the ball to those in attacking areas is exactly what United have been missing for several years now.

Garner, 21, is now at an age where he will be wanting to secure regular first team football and Ten Hag could be the right man to give it to him.