Man Utd midfielder Jack Moorhouse was around the first team last season and is set to feature in pre-season.
Manchester United youngster Jack Moorhouse is in contention to feature for the first team in pre-season this summer. Moorhouse was recalled from his Leyton Orient loan in January and has occasionally trained with the senior team since his return.
Moorhouse signed for Orient on a season-long loan in August, but it was announced late on deadline day in the winter window that his time at Brisbane Road had been cut short.
With Leyton Orient fighting relegation, manager Richie Wellens believed that Moorhouse’s game time could become limited. An agreement was reached with United to send Moorhouse back to his parent club earlier than expected, which has made him available for Under-21 fixtures again.
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Moorhouse showed glimmers of quality in the first half of the season, making 24 appearances. Leyton Orient were happy with him, but they felt a recall was the best choice for his development.
Ruben Amorim named Moorhouse in a handful of first-team squads last season and Michael Carrick named him on the bench in recent Premier League games against Everton and Crystal Palace.
U21 interim manager Adam Lawrence was recently asked about what will happen next with Moorhouse. “I think for someone like Jack again, it would be his progress between now and the end of the season to then look at what his next step is or the next senior opportunity that he gets,” he said.
Moorhouse is expected to feature on tour this summer with many senior players representing their nations at the World Cup, but he is slightly behind a few of his academy teammates.
“He’s not been as consistent as Shea Lacey [who trains with the first team each day], to be honest,” Lawrence said. “It’s fairly often that the players will go across with the first team anyway. He’s not a staple, like a Jack Fletcher, Shea Lacy, but he’s over there often enough.
“I think between his level of performances in U21s games up until then [the summer], again, there’s always got to be a bit of room to say to the player, go and perform there. Get your loan, get you in the first team.
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“The club’s part is to create the pathway. The player’s job is to force the pathway and make that final part. And that’s where Jack sits at the moment. Again, there’s no bigger fan of Jack than me in terms of his qualities. He’s a lovely player. He receives the ball on the back foot, the way that he can travel and glide with the ball.
“What we’re looking for him to do is now, between now and the end of the season, in those U21s games, like a Madrid, U21s playoffs, can you perform at the elite level and make the difference? Because we feel that he can. And that’s the bit of pressure that we would put on those types of players in those games as well.”
Lawrence continued: “I think in our system, he would be an 8 or a 10, so he’s more comfortable centrally. But as you’ve alluded to, we’ve got a lot of midfield players in the squad at the moment.
“And what Jack is, he can be quite versatile and he can play off the sides in terms of he can start in a wide position and drift into the middle as opposed to start in the middle.
“We’ve been quite flexible around how we try to use him. But longer term, obviously, it’s just my thoughts. I would say like an 8 or a 10 would be his longer-term position.”
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