Manchester United have some very exciting talents at the club, but now one has emerged with surprising ‘Marcelo’ comparisons being made.
With the first-team pathway for Manchester United academy players currently closed, there is a lot of development going on at Carrington this season.
This sees Jacob Devaney at centre-back, Amir Ibragimov learning how to be a central midfielder, Bendito Mantato at left-back and Chido Obi dropping back into the academy to develop his all-round game outside of scoring.
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But recent weeks have seen one player make a very interesting shift into a new position for club and country.
Jack Fletcher wearing Manchester United warm-up top.
Photo by Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images
Jack Fletcher’s teammates react to left-back role during England U19 duty
Earlier this month, Travis Binnion made the surprising call for Jack Fletcher to play as a left-back, which was a completely new role for the attacking midfielder.
Then, during the international break, Fletcher also played as a left-back for England, and in the comments of the wonderkid’s Instagram post, his United teammates reacted.
One comment, from currently injured youth star Bassirou Nkoto, saw Fletcher earn a comparison. He wrote, “Marcelo”, comparing Fletcher to the brilliant Brazilian full-back legend.
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Samuel Lusale also reacted to the new position, writing: “Now this is new”. Meanwhile, former United academy talent Maxi Oyedele was also surprised: “Number 3 ye, what have I missed”.
Harry Amass wrote: “My LB”. While Gabriele Biancheri chimed in, writing: “Rock at the back”.
Ethan Wheatley asked: “New position?”. While Shea Lacey labelled Fletcher as an “LB”.
Why Jack Fletcher might be playing as a left-back
The surprise and jokes from his teammates over his new position are telling. Fletcher, as a left-back, is a bizarre decision taken by club and country unanimously.
Due to this, there must be a reason behind the call.
At United, Fletcher has been tasked by Amorim to improve physically, something which training as a full-back will help develop.
However, an additional reason could be that United’s number 10 position is stacked, with Lacey likely to be the academy prospect best positioned to step up.
Due to this, Fletcher could be being prepared to play as a wing-back under Amorim, which would be an interesting decision, but doesn’t quite suit his game.
It will be interesting to see if he keeps playing here for United U21 this month, or whether it was more of an experiment.