Manchester United Under-21s boss Adam Lawrence joked he will have to ‘try and sweet talk’ Michael Carrick into letting him play Shea Lacey now that the 18-year-old is permanently with the first team.
Lacey broke into the first team under Ruben Amorim and while the routine for academy players trying to bridge the gap is to oscillate between working with the seniors as well as the Under-21s, that is no longer the case for Lacey.
‘So, day to day, Shea will train with the first team, basically follow their programme and then obviously be topped up with Under 21 games when he needs to be playing,’ Lawrence explained.
United’s Under-21s play on Friday afternoon away to Leeds United before hosting Real Madrid at Old Trafford on Tuesday night in the quarter-finals of the Premier League International Cup.
But with Lacey only just returning from a period out through injury, coupled with the demands of the first team in the run-in, it remains to be seen just how much academy football, if any, Lacey has ahead of him.
Shea Lacey is now permanently working with Man United’s first team, rather than the U21s
‘Shea is quite a unique case that you don’t see a lot of within the game because he’s always had a higher level, like an elite technical level,’ Lawrence continued.
‘He’s been a later developer physically. So it’s not always an easy case with that type of player because they can do things with the ball, which are, without getting too carried away, like first team level, genuinely.
‘But then in terms of the physicality and the physical side of the game, they need more time and patience.
‘So again, this period has been really critical for Shea in terms of being consistently with the first team.’
The key question is whether Lacey, who is now back in first team training, will be lining up with the Under-21s on Tuesday versus Real Madrid or find himself over in Ireland with Carrick and the first team at their mid-season training camp.
‘Of course, as a coach you want to have Shea available for as many games as possible,’ Lawrence added.
‘But at the same time, what he’s doing with the first team at the moment is really, really good and beneficial for him.
‘Michael [Carrick] has been really, really supportive and he understands in terms of the marquee games for the academy and the ones that he and the club feels are really, really good to be involved in.
‘They would obviously support [that] but obviously not at the expense of what the first team are doing or their programme.
Michael Carrick has a decision to make as to whether Lacey plays again for the Under-21s
‘But Michael has already said to me last week, I had a short conversation just around the programme next week for the 21s and the games and the opportunities and basically the first team supporting that.
‘So that message coming from him is obviously really good.’
You can buy tickets to watch the Under-21s take on Real Madrid Castilla at Old Trafford on Tuesday, April 7. More details can be found here.
