COMMENT: He would've preferred a better result. But defeat to Cardiff City on the final day of last season wasn't all bad for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Manchester United manager was able get one thing knocked off. A target he had been trying to meet for some weeks...
It only came as a second-half substitution. But the minutes were there. And a promise of what lays ahead. Solskjaer, after weeks of discussion with staff. Of trying to find an opening. A chance. An opportunity to make good on his planning. It eventually came in the final half of the final game of the season. But he did it. The manager handing Angel Gomes a second first team appearance of the campaign. Almost six months since his previous cameo - and two years almost to the day of his fleeting debut as a 16 year-old.
Solskjaer wanted to mark his card. To let Gomes know. Amid all the backpage chatter of offers from Barcelona and Benfica. Of the midfielder's frustration at not being released for loan in January. The manager wanted to make clear to the 18 year-old that his future lay at Old Trafford.
From his side, there had been doubts. Those close to Gomes concerned that he'd be crowded out at United. That there was no clear pathway to the first team for the England youth international. Some even wondered aloud whether Gomes was Solskjaer's type of midfielder.
Indeed, this column almost fell out with one source close to the Gomes clan over the claim. Dad's an U20 World Cup winner. His Godfather is the former United winger Nani. Basically, if you have a contact inside the Portuguese game, you're only a degree or two from a Gomes connection.
For Solskjaer. And for Gomes. You only need refer back to Mats Daehli to learn what the United manager thinks of players in the Gomes style. Solskjaer loved Daehli. And still regards the now St Pauli midfield schemer highly. From United's U18 and reserve teams. To Molde. And Cardiff City. Solskjaer insisted upon taking the Norway international with him wherever he could. More than anyother player, Solskjaer gave Daehli a chance of making it at the elite level.
For Gomes, the same treatment awaits him. Yes, Solskjaer will seek power. Ball-winning power. In his midfield. But there'll be room for guile. For craft. And a space in United's midfield waiting for Gomes to fill.
At 18, he needs to be patient. And he will. This preseason. Just as that Cardiff game in May. It's a marker. A promise of things to come. There'll be more opportunities from the bench. He's not quite ready to start a Premier League game. Certainly not ahead of senior teammates. But he won't be left behind. And Gomes knows that now.
As does his old youth team colleagues. Solskjaer will buy again before the transfer deadline. And again. And again. But the bedrock of this team he's building will be the academy talent. The Treble winner has seen enough. As he's thrashed out with his staff. They're now convinced. These lads can be relied upon. Not every game. Not even every week. But when needed, they can be called upon. And for the future, there is a real belief that five or six of this generation can be first team regulars.
Mason Greenwood, after his success in Australia and the Far East, is now getting the headlines. And rightly so. But it's Tahith Chong, more than anyother of this group, who has been pencilled in by management as ready for a full senior season ahead.
At 19 and having added extra kilos to his frame these past six months, physically Chong is primed for a first Premier League campaign. And it must said, he'll go into the season with the weight of United's academy staff on his shoulders.
Gomes, Greenwood, Axel Tuanzebe, James Garner and Dean Henderson. Away from that quintet, Chong is the odd man out. The Dutchman the lone foreigner to come through the United system with the potential to be a first teamer. For all the imports that have filled places at U16, U18 and U23 level at Carrington, only Chong has now emerged as a genuine contender. The reputation of United. It's scouts. It's coaching staff. All of 'em. Their reputation across the continent. And their ability to convince the next 15 year-old Chong to hand over their development to Carrington's team really does depend on his success in the coming year.
Further back. And more established. Is Tuanzebe. Like Gomes, the defender was picked out early in his career as one to fast-track. The old timers around Carrington rating Axel the best defensive talent seen at that level since Chris Casper.
Now fresh from a season in the Championship. Battle hardened after a year with Dean Smith's Aston Villa. Tuanzebe feels ready to make his mark as a United player. And his manager agrees.
Like Chong, Tuanzebe will be brought through - given the right circumstances - gradually. But he will get his chance. Solskjaer will back him. As he will his young teammates.
As he proved in May, Solskjaer isn't just paying lip service to the youth traditions of Manchester United. He wants it to be known - to Gomes et al - it will be at the forefront of this new team he is building.
There's never been a better time to be an academy player at Old Trafford.
