Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard feels his first team chance in preseason has been coming.

Lingard's no overnight sensation, though. He's been on United's books since he was seven. In recent years he's shone for both the Under-18s and the Reserves and admitted recently he'd relish a loan move away from Old Trafford.

"It's a natural progression," he told MUTV. "You move up from the Academy into the Reserves and then, hopefully, you play well and secure a loan.

"It's good for me that the manager's brought me on tour to get a bit of experience. If I do go on loan then this taste of being around a first-team squad should really help me. The aim would then be to do well and then come back and challenge for a first-team spot. That's what Danny Welbeck did when he went to Sunderland."

Like Welbeck, Lingard - born in Warrington - grew up a staunch United fan. "For as long as I remember," he says, "all I wanted to do was to play for this club.

"I've been at United from the age of seven. It's a massive deal for me to have progressed so far. I've worked hard all my life to get here and it's now starting to pay off."