Sunday’s 1-1 draw with now champions, Leicester, means Manchester United’s top four hopes continue to look bleak.
Despite guiding his side to the FA Cup final, Louis van Gaal’s future hangs in the balance due to another disappointing league campaign.
Speculation that the Dutchman will be replaced by Jose Mourinho persists around Old Trafford, but even if LVG’s tenure does come to an end, he will at least, leave behind a side bursting with potential.
The under-pressure manager has introduced a host of youngsters into his first-team as the season has progressed, and there are enough green shoots of hope around to suggest that Man United will be a real force in the title race next term.
Here are FIVE young Red Devils with the potential to contribute to a much higher league position in 2016/17…
Anthony Martial
The outlandish fee paid for Martial made him the biggest gamble of all Van Gaal’s transfer buys.
Arriving in the summer for £36.5m, plus add-ons, at just 19, the young Frenchman’s transfer raised plenty of eyebrows at the culmination of Man United’s desperate search for striking reinforcements.
Ironically though, he has proved by far the most effective of Van Gaal’s acquisitions to date.
An electric first campaign in a United shirt has seen the former Monaco man become one of world football’s hottest starlets.
Van Gaal originally commented that Martial was a player for the future, but the forward has not looked back since endearing himself to United fans by scoring against arch rivals Liverpool.
He is already a key player for the team and will be crucial in their upcoming campaign. So high is Martial’s stock though, that the continent’s biggest clubs are sure to be on standby to attempt to lure him from Old Trafford should United fail to secure a Champions League berth.
Jesse Lingard
Lingard’s journey to the United first team has been a slow and steady, rather than explosive arrival, but he seems now to have secured his place with a fine run of form in the second half of the season.
The winger has been monitored closely by Roy Hodgson since the turn of the year, a sign that his transformation from promising youngster to established Premier League star is nearing completion.
Lingard, now 23, has been at United since the age of seven. Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and now Van Gaal all seem to have been impressed by the Englishman, with his pace and work-rate seeing him gradually force his way into the first-team squad.
Lingard has already netted several important goals for the Red Devils and is forming a good understanding with the likes of Martial and Rashford.
While injuries initially gave Lingard his chance, more established names like Juan Mata, Ashley Young and the expensive Memphis Depay now sit on the bench while Van Gaal continues to prefer his rising star.
Marcus Rashford
Few players have made a more sensational impact at the start of their career than Rashford.
The untried teenager replaced Martial, injured in the warm up, against FC Midtjylland with United needing a result to progress back in February, and promptly netted twice on his debut in a 5-1 win.
Van Gaal then continued with the youngster against a much tougher Arsenal side in the league. Incredibly, he repeated the feat, sinking the Gunners with another two goals.
Rashford has been displaying a lethal touch ever since with further strikes helping United continue their Champions League push and reach the FA Cup Final.
The 18-year-old already looks every inch the natural finisher. With bristling pace and the movement of an experienced poacher, he will be a key asset for United next term.
Adnan Januzaj
The emergence of Januzaj was one of few positives from the season that United endured under David Moyes.
The youngster’s undoubted natural ability and spark of creativity came to the fore while the side floundered in the immediate aftermath of Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure.
Despite his contribution, United had a dismal campaign and Moyes’ departure saw the starlet’s development come to an abrupt halt.
Not being a part of Van Gaal’s immediate plans, Januzaj was then given a temporary move – which was surely the envy of most loanees – to Dortmund. The Brussels-born man, however, failed to make an impact at the Westfalenstadion and returned to United.
The winger is now 21 and it could well be that next year represents a final chance to establish himself at Old Trafford. How best to incorporate his precocious talent will be a key decision for whoever is United manager come August.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah
So severe have United’s defensive injury problems been this year that most of their youth-team defenders have been given some sort of chance in the first XI.
Few have made quite the impact of Fosu-Mensah, though.
The youngster made his debut in the home victory over Arsenal, where the headlines were stolen by fellow teenage sensation Rashford.
In every appearance since, however, the 18-year-old’s hulking frame has really caught the eye as he set about Premier League opponents like he’s been doing it for years.
The versatile Dutchman has so far been introduced to the side at full back but is known to be equally at home in the heart of the defence or in midfield.
His sheer athleticism and combative nature has seen the Old Trafford faithful take him almost immediately to their hearts, but make no mistake; Fosu-Mensah is a talented footballer and in just a few short weeks has proved he could be formidable part of United’s push for honours next year.
