Manchester United teenager Teden Mengi has hinted he could be involved in his side’s game against Southampton at Old Trafford on Monday.
The 18-year-old is yet to make his first team bow for the club but he was promoted into first team training three weeks ago due to injuries to Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has played Victor Lindelof alongside Harry Maguire in each of United’s four league matches since the Premier League restarted and Eric Bailly is the only other fully fit recognised centre-back in United’s squad.
Mengi is United’s U18s captain and he’s played 14 times for the U23s this term, often impressing in front of the watching Solskjaer.
The Norwegian’s side take on Southampton, Crystal Palace, Chelsea and West Ham in the next 11 days and he wants to rotate in order to deal with the fixture pile-up.
And Mengi has hinted he could be involved against the Saints by dropping a hint on his Twitter page.
The teenager posted an hourglass emoji alongside the hashtag #mufc, suggesting that he could be set to make his first team debut for the club.
The defender then posted a highlights reel of his best bits from this campaign and he’ll be hoping to make his debut after being an unused substitute in United’s Europa League clash against Astana last December.
Solskjaer has certainly been impressed with what he’s seen of Mengi since he was called up into training.
‘Axel and Phil are injured, so that’s two centre-backs down for us,’ said Solskjaer.
‘Chris [Smalling] is on loan and [Marcos] Rojo is on loan, so it was natural for me to put Teden in
‘One, for his own benefit because to have a few months training now tests him and he’s deserved it. He’s an exciting talent and was desperate to come in. He keeps in touch with the coaches and he was always ready when we asked him. ‘Are you ready, are you fit enough?’
‘He worked hard over the lockdown and he’s done really well. He doesn’t seem out of place so he’ll definitely be more in and around the first-team next season.’
United can move into third spot with a win against the Saints and three points would see the club enter the top four for the first time since early September.
Leicester’s 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth coupled with Chelsea’s 3-0 loss to Sheffield United means the Red Devils will come third if they win their remaining four fixtures.
MORE: David De Gea hasn’t won enough at Manchester United, admits Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
