Manchester United’s teenager, Teden Mengi, has indicated that he could play Southampton at Old Trafford on Monday.
The 18-year-old still has his first team bow for the club, but was promoted to team training three weeks ago due to injuries from Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has played alongside Harry Maguire against Victor Lindelof in each of United’s four league games since the Premier League restart, and Eric Bailly is the only fully recognized center-back in United’s squad.
Mengi is the U18 captain of United and has played 14 times for the U23 this season. He often impresses in front of the observing Solskjaer.
The Norwegian team will face Southampton, Crystal Palace, Chelsea and West Ham over the next eleven days. He wants to turn to deal with the game jam.
And Mengi has hinted that he could be involved with the Saints by dropping a reference to his Twitter page.
The teenager posted an hourglass emoji next to the hashtag #mufc, suggesting that he could make his first team debut for the club.
The defender then released a high point of his campaign’s best results and is hoping for his debut after being deployed as an unused substitute at the Europa League clash against Astana last December.
Solskjaer was certainly impressed with what he has seen from Mengi since he was called up for training.
“Axel and Phil are injured, they are two central defenders for us,” said Solskjaer.
‘Chris [Smalling] is on loan and [Marcos] Rojo is on loan, so it was natural for me to use Teden
“One, to his own advantage, because having a few months of training is testing him now and he deserves it. He is an exciting talent and really wanted to come in. He stays in touch with the coaches and was always ready when we asked him. “Are you ready, are you fit enough?”
“He worked hard on the lock and it was really well done. He doesn’t seem out of place, so he will definitely be more in and around the first team next season. ‘
United can move up to third place with a win over the Saints, and with three points the club would be in the top four for the first time since early September.
Leicester’s 4-4 loss to Bournemouth and Chelsea’s 0-3 loss to Sheffield United mean the Red Devils will be third if they win the remaining four games.
MORE: David De Gea hasn’t won enough at Manchester United, admits Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
