Manchester United planning futures for exciting talents

'Everybody in the world knows' - Manchester United planning futures for exciting talents

Travis Binnion spoke to the MEN after an impressive Man United Under-21 victory against Man City last weekend.

U21 manager Travis Binnion spoke after the Manchester derby win. (Image: 2025 Manchester United FC)

Travis Binnion praised Manchester United's youngsters after their Manchester derby win, discussing the progress of Chido Obi, Shea Lacey and Amir Ibragimov in the academy.

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United's Under-21s maintained their flawless start to the new campaign against Manchester City.

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The Reds delivered a strong display to claim a 2-1 victory at Leigh Sports Village last Sunday. Obi opened the scoring in the first half, and Ibragimov scored the matchwinner after a cross from Lacey.

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Binnion spoke to the Manchester Evening News and was delighted with his team's performance.

"He deserved it," said Binnion of Obi's goal. "I thought the last 15 minutes of the first half, he started to have joy against the two centre halves. It's not easy for him because people look at him like he's a big kid. The key thing there is he's still very young, he's still learning his game.

"Because he's had exposure with the first-team, I think people expect performance levels that are really consistent and really high. You've got first-team players across the country who don't do that.

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"The expectation on him is high, but he has to deliver the basics, and what he did from minute 30 to 80 when he came off is he pressed, he ran and he occupied two centre halves to give other players space on the pitch to exploit, which is why we dominated the ball.

"They [City] will say they are not scared of him, but they defended two versus one against him all day. I'm pleased he got his goal because you can toil up there, not touch it, not do a lot, but he got his goal and set us on our way. I'm really pleased with him and we haven't even scraped the top of the iceberg with him. He's got loads to come.

"That will come from how he sees the game, keeps working hard and recognises he has stuff to develop because that's always a challenge when you have that first-team exposure and then you go away and have to start working on things."

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Ruben Amorim handed Obi first-team opportunities last season. The 17-year-old made eight senior appearances and impressed during the post-season trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Obi pictured celebrating against City last Sunday. (Image: MUTV)

Obi started the opening pre-season friendly against Leeds and was involved during the United States tour, but Amorim has not included him in a senior squad in the new campaign.

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The youngster must continue to work hard to earn first-team involvement. "When you score as many goals as he has throughout his relatively short life, you can define yourself by goals," said Binnion.

"And we all know there's probably only two or three strikers in the world who get two goals in every three games. If you're used to scoring two goals in every game, then recognising what the role is, how you have to go around it takes a little bit of time. He is dying to be a footballer.

"He is hungry. And he's still learning the game, learning how to project himself and learning how to play within a team, the club's shape and system, so there's still lots for him to do.

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"The key is he wants to play, he wants to do well and wants to train. He could train every day if he could."

Binnion was asked about young players requiring patience and responded: "It's hard. He's not on his own, it's really hard. Lads get in there [first-team squad], and then they don't play games, so that is a different challenge.

"I think sometimes now, Chido will get opportunities with the first-team to train because he's a really important player, but he gets the opportunity to really work at his game and we can work with him.

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"When you're in the first-team squad, all that matters is Saturday at 3pm or Tuesday at 7.45pm. That is the whole focus and he's not a priority within that, which is normal. But he is a priority for us and he really needs to see and understand this is a golden period for him to develop his game. He's 17."

Lacey was also included in the post-season travelling squad at the end of the campaign. The youngster made a wonderful cameo from the bench against City and came close to scoring with his first touch.

Lacey is a hugely talented prospect. (Image: 2025 Manchester United FC)

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"Listen, everybody in the world knows about Shea Lacey," Binnion effused. "So he needs a little bit of fortune, he needs to be patient with himself and everybody else needs to be really patient with him.

"He is in the same sort of area as Chido because of time lost. Different to Chido, Chido is fast progression. Because of time lost with Shea, he still has lots to come tactically, physically and mentally.

"Everybody can see - you have to be blind not to see - the talent he's got. He's got lots to do in his game and he knows. We're still managing him physically because if he can stay on the pitch and can train every day, I think everyone thinks he could be a top, top player."

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Ibragimov scored the winner against City, just a day after playing 90 minutes for the Under-18s.

"He's had a slight positional change, but he's got all the tools to do it really well," said Binninion.

"He's intelligent. He's got stuff to tidy up, but he's a warrior. If you're intelligent and a warrior and want to do everything right with and without the ball, then you're going to cause people problems.

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"He played 90 minutes yesterday and come on today. Once he was in the squad, it was always in my mind to get him on the pitch because we were so attacking today.

"Amir is still an attacking player, he's learning the deeper role. James Scanlon played up front today, Jack Fletcher has ended up sitting in midfield when his brother went off and Jacob Devaney is in the backline.

"Bendito is at left-back, so we finished with a team of something like five wingers or strikers on the pitch. And they're still making the game look like what the football club expects."

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Binnion added: "I think we dominated the game. I don't know how you guys saw it, but we started really well and then had a 15 or 20 minute spell in the first half when we gave them a couple of chances.

"They were basic errors, people running off us ,or not being good enough with the ball. Then I feel like from 30 minutes onwards, bar the last five minutes, we've dominated the game and I'm not sure how many sides can say that against Manchester City.

"We know if we're good with the ball, we will hurt them. If you're not good with the ball, they hurt you. But yeah, I'm really pleased with the adaptability of the group. Some of the lads played their first 90 minutes in that game today. I thought Jack Fletcher was outstanding.

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"Tyler Fletcher wasn't due to go off, but was struggling, which meant he had to. That is Shea Lacey's first competitive game, Chido is still not up to 90 minutes, so what I mean is we're well into the season now, but because of how pre-season has been, we're still building really.

"To deliver that type of performance, with two defenders in the squad... Jacob Devaney has been outstanding, and Bendito Mantato has been outstanding. The group deserves real credit for not only winning, but dominating the game and the style in which we tried to take on."

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