Manchester United's young stars profiled: who are Josh Harrop, Demetri Mitchell and Zachary Dearnley?
We take a look at the United youngsters who could feature for Jose Mourinho's side in Sunday's clash with Crystal Palace
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Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho is set to ring the changes for the final day of the season as Manchester United continue to throw all of their efforts into the Europa League.
The side host Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon before travelling to Stockholm to face Ajax in the Europa League final just three days later.
The game against Sam Allardyce's team will be No 63 of a hectic season with Mourinho at pains to point out how stretched his squad has been on numerous occasions this term.
As a result, the Portuguese has revealed that a number of the club's young guns could feature in Sunday's clash.
Here, we take at look at the next generation of United stars:
Axel Tuanzebe
Prior to his first-team breakthrough in recent weeks, the 19-year-old captained the club's youth teams and Mourinho is understood to have been impressed by his mentality.
But first and foremost he is a technically-sound defender, most comfortable at the heart of a back four but also capable of filling in at full-back or defensive midfield.
He recently showed his versatility in playing in central midfield and with Mourinho expected to field the youngster on Sunday, Tuanzebe will have another chance to shine.
Tuanzebe was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo but moved to the north-west of England as a child and grew up near Rochdale.
His sporting prowess was easy to see as a young boy, competing at a high level in a number of sports but he decided to dedicate himself to football where he captained his school team, St. Cuthbert's, to the national Schools Cup final.
He had already piqued the interest of Manchester United's area scouts years before, though, and by the age of eight he was informally training with the club's youth programmes, and progressed through the ranks as a Red.
Josh Harrop
The 21-year-old joined his boyhood club in 2012 and currently plays for United’s U23s. Harrop has never played a senior game but a man-of-the-match performance against Tottenham U23s on Monday, in which he scored a hat-trick in front of Mourinho, leaves him in contention to make his debut against Palace.
Harrop is a natural playmaker who is most comfortable in central midfield but he has demonstrated the ability to play as a No 10, too. A flair player with an eye for goal, he has scored eight goals in 21 Premier League 2 appearances this season.
Zachary Dearnley
Another U23 who featured against Tottenham on Monday night, with Mourinho in attendance. The 18-year-old came closing to scoring in the 3-2 win but saw his effort deflected away from goal. Still, he made enough of an impression for Mourinho to name-check him among the numerous other youngsters who could start against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Dearnley has seen a number of highs and lows through his budding career. He started alongside Marcus Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah in the Uefa Youth League tie with PSV Eindhoven last season but limped off after five minutes. Injury has hindered his development this year but he has overcome such setback and now stands on the brink of making a first senior appearance.
A notable high point saw him clinch the winner against Bury in United’s 2014/15 Youth Cup win before striking again in the following round against Hull. Clever on the ball and able to beat his marker with his skill, he has flashed with potential this season.
Demetri Mitchell
The 20-year-old has been at United since he was a schoolboy, and made his U18 debut while still eligible for the U16 age group. Mitchell went on to rise through the ranks, joining the U23 side under former reserve coach Warren Joyce.
Mitchell's tricky style and natural pace ensured he spent much of his youth as a winger, chipping in with a number of goals. However, a conversion to left back in the 2016/17 season after the departure of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson on loan has seen the youngster reinvented as an attack-minded full back.
Mitchell has been in impressive form for the U23s this season and is one of three youngsters nominated for the Reserve Team Player of the Year award.
He was included in the match-day squad for United’s recent visit to Arsenal.
Scott McTominay
The 20-year-old central midfielder is highly regarded among the coaching staff at the club – and he owes it all to a timely growth spurt at the end of 2015.
The story goes that McTominay measured just 5ft 6ins at the start of 2015, with United’s youth-team coaches doubtful he would be able to make the grade at the top-level in the professional game. But by the end of the year he had shot up in size, and now stands at an imposing 6ft 4ins.
“Scott has just burst onto the scene,” Joyce said earlier this season. “He could be a proper box-to-box aggressive midfielder and we need to be mindful of that.”
Matty Willock
The talented young midfielder was born in London and was originally on the books at Arsenal, but the club released him as a 15-year-old in 2012, having decided he lacked the talent to ever trouble their first-team.
He was immediately picked up by United and has done well since joining the club, particularly impressing for the reserves in the Premier League 2 this season.
The midfielder scored the winning goal against Liverpool, and also scored against City earlier in the season.
“I was a schoolboy at Arsenal but was released at 15 so I had trials at a few clubs,” Willock told the club matchday programme earlier this season. “Including Reading and Sunderland. I ended up signing for United. It was a bit disappointing when I left Arsenal but it worked out well.
“It is great as, when I was young, I always wanted to grow up and play for a big club. I didn’t think I was necessarily ever going to play for United so I am just happy to be here. If I keep working hard, hopefully I can push myself forward.”
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