Manchester United’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick has said that Anthony Elanga has a bright future ahead following his impressive progress under him this season.
The youngster was linked with a potential loan move away from Old Trafford in January, but his fortunes changed following the arrival of Rangnick as the temporary head coach.
Elanga has been a regular starter under the German during the back end of the campaign. He has made a good impression with five goal contributions, one of those came against Brentford last night.
The 20-year-old timed his run on the right flank from a quality long ball from Diogo Dalot. He made his way into the box before delivering a perfect cross for Bruno Fernandes to score on the volley.
Following the game, Rangnick praised the mentality of the United graduate and added that is still plenty of room for improvement over the coming years to become better technically and tactically.
He told Manutd.com: “He’s only just turned 20 and at Christmas, before I arrived, he had already thought about going on loan somewhere else and now he’s almost playing regularly for us. I think he’s got a great mentality, he’s a good lad.”
“He wants to get better in every training session and he will hopefully stay in the club for the next couple of years and then improve. There’s still a lot of space for improvement for him technically, tactically, but he wants to learn and that’s the good thing about him.”
Our view:
At the start of the campaign, Elanga was well down the pecking order with Jadon Sancho, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Jesse Lingard all preferred ahead of him.
However, the poor form of Martial (loaned out in January) and Rashford, combined with the extended absence of Greenwood, have contributed to Elanga becoming a regular.
The young Swede needs to be applauded for his efforts. He has certainly taken the opportunity to impress and could have a bright future ahead with Erik ten Hag set to take charge.
The Dutch tactician likes to work with upcoming youngsters with potential. Elanga will have left a good impression on him after another promising display at Old Trafford last night.
The Red Devils could still pursue another marquee winger this summer, but Elanga needs to keep on working hard to push for a starting berth under the new manager next season.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
