On the most recent edition of The Athletic’s Talk of the Devils podcast, Carl Anka, Laurie Whitwell and Andy Mitten shared their thoughts on the latest goings-on at Manchester United and the panel spent some time discussing 18-year-old United full-back Ethan Laird during this podcast.
As per Transfermarkt, Laird has experience of playing in both full-back positions as well as the centre-back position, however, the Manchester United teenager has primarily featured at right-back throughout his young career and prior to United’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa on Thursday the ninth of July, it is the right-back position that he has featured in during both of his appearances for the Red Devils’ senior squad thus far.
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During his appearance on the latest edition of The Athletic’s Talk of the Devils podcast, Whitwell revealed that Laird is currently training with United’s first-team as he reviewed a series of exciting academy talents, following a recent article written for The Athletic.
He then went on to discuss the player at greater length, saying: “Ethan Laird is a right-back who is really exciting actually, very good going forward.
“He actually is the reason why Brandon Williams was shifted to left-back, because they were both competing for the same right-back slot coming up through the ranks [at] 15, 16 at United so, [it’s] weird how things work out.
“He signed a new contract earlier this year, which was a sign of how much United like him because he was out injured at the time. He’s had his own problems with injuries, this one was a knee injury, but he’s back [and] fully fit now and that’s why he’s been brought into [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer’s squad for first-team training.”
Are you excited about Ethan Laird?
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TIF Thoughts…
As Whitwell stated, the fact that Laird was given a new contract while returning from injury may be a sign of how highly-rated he is by the Red Devils. In his recent piece for The Athletic, Whitwell named Laird as one of five United youth players who ‘will be expected to enjoy a breakthrough campaign next season.’ Whitwell went on to say that Laird ‘is considered a genuine prospect to eventually rival Aaron Wan-Bissaka’ for United’s starting right-back spot in this report.
Considering how highly-rated he is by those at the club, the fact that Laird is now training with United’s first team could be exciting for Red Devils fans as he may be on the way to becoming a more regular member of the club’s senior squad ahead of what may be a ‘breakthrough season’ if Whitwell’s report on the club’s expectations for the player is to be believed.