Manchester United’s promising youngster Timothy Fosu-Mensah has completed a loan move to join Crystal Palace this summer
As confirmed on Manchester United’s official site, Timothy Fosu-Mensah will spend the 2017/18 season on loan at Crystal Palace, under the watchful eye of Frank De Boer.
Interestingly, De Boer and Fosu-Mensah have a previous connection from their time at Ajax. The current Palace manager was in charge of the Ajax youth team between 2007 and 2010, and that was when the talented defender was progressing rapidly through the ranks in their Academy before joining United in 2014.
Fosu-Mensah is only 19-years-old but he still managed to carve a spot for himself in the hearts of several United fans. He is one of the most promising youngsters at Old Trafford, which became all the more evident after his recent foray into the first-team squad.
The Academy graduate made his senior debut under former manager Louis van Gaal in February 2016 and proved to be a valuable player for Jose Mourinho as well. So far, Fosu-Mensah has appeared 21 times for United across all competitions and was deployed in the right-back area quite often.
The youngster is quite versatile as well after having proven his quality operating as a centre-back and in the central midfield area. Despite being immensely talented, Fosu-Mensah’s minutes on field last season were rather limited.
Antonio Valencia was deployed in that position for a good chunk of the previous season while Mourinho preferred playing Ashley Young as a temporary right-back. Additionally, his first-team chances will take a bigger hit due to Victor Lindelof’s arrival.
The Swedish international is one of five senior centre-backs at Old Trafford along with Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo, thus leaving no scope for Fosu-Mensah.
Tim managed to feature in seven games for Manchester United last season, and was quite impressive on all occasions. He clearly has a lot of potential but he is in dire need of playing regularly to hone his skills further. Thus, a loan move to Crystal Palace seems ideal.
After completing his loan move to Selhurst Park, Fosu-Mensah will be determined to enhance his skills and rake in as much playing minutes as he can with the Eagles. The youngster will be keen on featuring in their top-flight opener against Huddersfield Town.