Two or three Manchester United youngsters could be promoted to first team squad

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Ralf Rangnick believes 'two or three' academy talents could be permanently promoted to the Manchester United squad next season.

Anthony Elanga broke into the first-team on Rangnick's watch and scored crucial goals against Brentford, Leeds and Atletico Madrid this calendar year, earning the 19-year-old his first call-up to the Sweden national team in March.

Hannibal Mejbri, also 19, made his second appearance for the club as a late substitute at Liverpool last month and the 17-year-old Argentinian Alejandro Garnacho came on for his debut against Chelsea two weeks before scoring twice in the FA Youth Cup final win over Nottingham Forest. READ MORE: Rangnick and Ten Hag hold talks Left-back Alvaro Fernandez, 19, has been included in the last three Premier League matchday squads and could make his debut at Crystal Palace on Sunday, having been named the Under-23 player of the year.

Charlie Savage and Zidane Iqbal emerged for their debuts in Rangnick's second game in charge against Young Boys in December and Savage signed a new contract this week after training with the first-team. "Obviously not all of them," Rangnick replied when asked if the youngsters he has trained could move into the first-team. "There might be one or two, or maybe even three, where it makes sense to have them in pre-season so that they can also show to Erik [ten Hag] if they are already ready to play. "On the other hand, for an 18 or 19-year-old just to be here, to be part of the squad and not get enough game-time, then it might make sense to go on loan somewhere, like [James] Garner did at Nottingham Forest or quite a few other players did with other clubs.