Ethan Wheatley made his debut in Erik ten Hag’s first team in a match against Sheffield United in the Premier League. He became the 250th Manchester United academy player to play in the club’s senior team.
The last few days have been very fruitful for the Red Devils graduate. First, on April 23, he played for the U18 team against Manchester City in the final Premier League Cup. There he scored two goals, and his team finally won the cup for winning the competition. This season, Wheatley has already made his debut in the U21 team.
Now, in the match against Sheffield United, Wheatley made his senior debut for the Red Devils. He appeared on the pitch in the 90th minute and replaced Rasmus Hojlund. At the same time, he became the 250th graduate of the club’s academy to make his debut in the first team.
Ethan Wheatley after the match against Sheffield United: – It is a huge club with a rich history, especially in the academy. It’s an honor for me to make my debut and be the 250th graduate of the academy. I was a bit nervous, but after taking off my tracksuit, I was ready to play. I was excited. It was an amazing 24 hours.
– Bruno [Fernandes] he took me for a talk. He then told me he only had nine minutes to score a goal for me.
Manchester United has been working on its academy for almost a century. The first player of this club to have the honor of making his debut in the senior team was Tom Manley. As mentioned, these were quite distant times, because the match was played before World War II in 1931.
There is another quite long streak associated with the graduates of Manchester United’s youth team. Since 1937, not a single match has been played without the involvement of a “Red Devils” player. In 2019, during the match against Everton, 4,000 matches with a player in the match squad were celebrated.
🔴 Built on our spirit and core values.
A special landmark for the bedrock of our football club — Ethan Wheatley has become #MUAcademy‘s 250th graduate ❤️#MUFC pic.twitter.com/5f5MNj57Em
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 24, 2024
Wheatley has already made his debut, but this does not mean that this is the end for the academy this season. There were several promising players on the bench in recent matches, and during first team training we are also increasingly talking about rising academy stars.
Sooner or later Harry Amass will get his chance. Manchester United is currently playing without a left back, so the debut of a talented young defender seems to be a matter of time. Then there is the highly regarded Shea Lacey. The winger recently returned after a long break due to injury and will definitely need a few more weeks to get back into the match rhythm in the youth team.
