Manchester United defender Tom Thorpe is impressing management this season.

Reserves coach Warren Joyce has praised Thorpe - last season's FA Youth Cup-winning skipper - for showing the versatility he values at Reserves level.

"I have an idea about who can play where from how they handle the ball in training," Joyce explained to ManUtd.com. "Tom Thorpe has been a good example of that in terms of how well he's handled playing in midfield in a holding role.

"Tom can deal with the ball, his passing and decision-making is good and you see that in training, in the keep-ball session and other parts of the training. So I got the idea that he can do it.

"He will get opportunities to play at the back as well, it's just that we have an abundance of defenders as you can see. We could quite easily put out two complete back-fours, possibly three, and it's just the make-up of what we have got in the group."