Ethan Wheatley made Manchester United history last seasonplaceholder image
Ethan Wheatley made Manchester United history last season | Getty Images
The Man Utd striker was highly rated at youth level but has struggled in the senior game.
The 19-year-old won the club's Young Player of the Year award for the 2023/24 season and made history as the 250th academy graduate to feature for the first-team when he was handed a debut by Erik ten Hag. He only made one senior appearance this past season before he joined Walsall on loan in the January transfer window.
Wheatley started well at his new club but was eventually frozen out as his loan side inconceivably threw away a 12-point lead and won just three of their next 21 matches to miss out on promotion. The teenager made just four appearances for Walsall and returned to United to feature for the U21s for the remainder of the season.
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Wheatley wants another United chance
Ethan Wheatley will hope to end the season on a high as England U19s look to win the European Championship this summer. He scored a goal in their remarkable 5-5 draw with Germany earlier in the week, as his country came back from 5-1 down at the start of the second-half to earn a valuable point.
Wheatley showcased the maturity that saw him shine so brightly at youth level for United and he hopes the tournament can be a springboard for a productive pre-season at Manchester United. “My second half of season has been frustrating, not being able to show what I’m about, really,” Wheatley told the PA news agency. “But I think this tournament is the perfect way to do it.I think there’ll be a lot of eyes on it and obviously representing your country in a Euros there’s not much better than that.
“It’ll be good to hopefully impress and, just for myself and for the team, play my part and do well. The club have been good with me. They’ve let me come back and play a few 21s games just to keep my legs going, so it’s been good to be back at United, developing and getting game time.”
Wheatley could feature for United in the early stages of their pre-season schedule and could be offered another opportunity to leave the club on loan this summer. At this moment, he is keeping his options open. He added: “As of now, no, not really. I’m just more concentrated on this tournament. But, yeah, since (Amorim) came in I was away with international camp and obviously went on loan in January, so I’ve not really been around it too much. But I want to be a Man United player in the future, but if that doesn’t happen then it obviously wasn’t meant to be. We’ll just see what happens in the future.”
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