Manchester United’s Lingard praised by academy coach

Manchester United academy boss Paul McGuinness has praised Jesse Lingard on his breakthrough to the senior team after watching the youngster grow up at the club from a young age.

McGuinness has worked with Lingard for many years and is one of the reasons the England international has developed into such a good player.

Lingard was never a big player with his size always keeping him on the fringes of the first team. Plenty of loan spells away with Birmingham City, Brighton and Derby all helped the 22 year-old grow and now he is a more complete player after games in the Championship. It was also a confidence boost for Lingard as he was called into the team for their pre-season tour to the United States this summer.

He impressed manager Louis van Gaal and that forced him to keep hold of Lingard after the transfer window. And now after months of training with the first-team the United graduate is now a regular in the starting XI and netted his first goal for the side against West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League.

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And McGuiness, who kept Lingard in the gym and working hard during his tough period in the academy side, has praised the youngster for his hard work and admitted it’s a proud moment for everyone close to him. He said, as reported by manutd.com:

"I think everybody who has worked in the Academy in the last few years and been involved with Jesse was delighted. He’s a real success story for everybody, particularly for himself, as he’s worked so hard and all his family have backed him and so on by bringing him here for so many years.”“He probably wouldn’t have had the same opportunities at another Academy. It’s one thing we do pretty well – we work with late developers. He was very small when he was younger, a late developer coming through, but we saw the talent and everybody believed in him. I think that gave him the confidence to keep going and develop himself so we’re absolutely delighted he’s doing so well in the first team.”"

Van Gaal, 64, is a boss who always likes to get the youth players into the groove of training with the first-team. The Dutchman believes it helps their development and he’s done that with all the clubs he’s been at including Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Ajax.

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Many world class players were given an opportunity under Van Gaal and they are now thriving. Lingard could be the next while defender Axel Tuanzebe could be the next after being called into the side at just 17 years of age.

And McGuiness believes its great for the club and the rest of the youngsters that there’s an opportunity to progress.

"“This is where Louis van Gaal, to be honest with you, is following completely in the footsteps of previous United managers’ tradition for it,” McGuiness continued.“When I was a young player, I was taken to two or three games when you had a first reserve, there were only 11 players and one sub, so you’d go in as reserve and carry the kit and do other things. It all gives you experience of being with the first team and that’s going on regularly now. The first team does not have a massive squad so this week, the international week, the Under-18s, Under-19s and Under-21s are all training with the first-team players which is great for their development,” he added."

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United are in a good state at the moment and will look to continue their strong start to the season against Watford on Saturday. Changes are likely to be made after Anthony Martial suffered an injury on international duty. However, Van Gaal has other options with Memphis Depay now fit.