MANCHESTER UNITED youngster Harry Amass has given Ruben Amorim some food for thought with his starring performances in the Championship.
The Red Devils prodigy joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan in the summer to get some vital match playing experience.
The teenager, who has been tipped as the long-term successor to Luke Shaw, has given United chiefs every reason to be impressed so far this campaign.
And his strong performances culminated in Amass scoring his first goal for The Owls against Southampton.
Henrik Pedersen’s side had fallen two goals behind the Saints after goals from Caspar Jander and Finn Azaz in the ninth and 17th minute of play.
However, Amass, 18, was able to halve the deficit with a stunning finish from outside the area.
Intercepting a clearance up field with his left foot, Amass managed to dribble past three sleeping Southampton defenders before shifting the ball to his left side and firing a shot into the bottom right corner.
The 25th minute strike saw the ball bounce awkwardly in front of goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu before it found its way into the side netting.
Amass’ celebration was muted as his team-mates came over to congratulate him while another grabbed the ball out of the net to get the game back underway.
Fans on social media were quick to praise the England Under-19 star for his first senior career goal.
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One said: “Is he Luke Shaw in disguise?”
A second said: “Congratulations to him.”
A third added: “Bring him back by January.”
Left wing-back Patrick Dorgu failed to distinguish himself against Tottenham in Manchester United’s 2-2 draw earlier in the day, and with that in mind, one fan said: “Someone tell Dorgu his days are numbered.”
Previous weeks had seen Diogo Dalot – who saw a distant family connection to manager Amorim revealed earlier this week – play as the left wing-back in United’s 3-4-3 shape, much to the dismay of many supporters.
Despite Amass hitting a major career milestone, it was not enough to inspire a comeback against Southampton, with Adam Armstrong scoring two minutes after the break to restore their two-goal cushion.
Amass came through the youth system at Watford before United picked him up in 2023.
Amorim, 40, handed him his first-team debut for the Red Devils on his 18th birthday in a 3-0 win over Leicester in April.
He went on to make five Premier League appearances over the rest of the season and a further two in the Europa League.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Wednesday’s loan agreement for Amass technically expires on January 5, meaning the club must request an extension of the loan deal if they wish to keep him for the remainder of the season.
In that instance United will then have a decision to make over whether to accept that request.
United are covering the cost of the loan deal to facilitate game time, which was also a handy agreement considering Wednesday’s financial uncertainty which saw them deducted 12 points after falling into administration.
Speaking about Amass when he was included against Leicester in April, Amorim said: “I think he’s doing the right things. He’s training quite well.
“And then when you have situations when you have to rotate some players, they deserve the opportunity, but they have to show. No big pressure on him.
“He knows what to do. He needs to enjoy and it’s a good game for him to feel what it is to play for Manchester United.”
For today’s draw with Spurs only one academy player, Jack Fletcher, was named in the squad – which narrowly avoided breaking a record of including an academy star in every matchday squad since 1937.
An injury to Kobbie Mainoo in training prompted the call-up for Fletcher, with Amorim previously saying he does not want to be the manager to end the run.
He said of the decision: “There are some things especially in our club that we need to be bulletproof.
“It’s the way we behave, the way we feel the club and all these small things. We are not going to stop with the academy players.
“It doesn’t matter the result, it doesn’t matter anything else. We need to continue with these small details that are the foundations of our club, so we have that record.
“We are not going to break that record, and Jack is ready to help us.
“We put two things together to show people that our Academy is the future and to show the players in our academy that they need to be ready because we are going to need them at some point. Jack is ready to help us.”
Amass returning in January would help to ease that burden of maintaining that record and having viable tactical assets at Amorim’s disposal.
However, with Dorgu, Dalot and Diego Leon all currently at the club able to play left wing-back, Amass is down the pecking order – which would likely see United chiefs look to prioritise his development in match minutes.
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