Andy Mitten joined The Football Show on Tuesday night to discuss Manchester United's young wingers, Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.
Anthony Elanga isn't exactly what Manchester United expected Jadon Sancho to be.
But the young winger has surpassed Manchester United's other young winger as a key starter for Ralf Rangnick. Despite his goal at the weekend, Marcus Rashford is also behind Elanga in the pecking order now. Rashford's inconsistent play and Sancho's premature demise opened the opportunity, so Elanga took it.
United We Stand editor Andy Mitten is not yet writing off either Rashford or Sancho, but it's clear that Elanga has to stay in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future.
Mitten explained the situation from the perspective of each player.
On Rashford:
"I don't see him playing well. I don't see any specifics about why his form may have dropped. There was an injury issue but he's been massively underwhelming. There's a lot of conjecture around Marcus Rashford when he's not playing well. That rises and dips. People accuse him of being too focused on what goes on off the field.
"I think that's a little bit unfair. I hear mixed things about Marcus Rashford, I'm not sure whether he'll have a long-term future at Manchester United."
On Sancho:
"It's a huge amount of money and he's been poor. Fans invested a lot of hope in him. They were really excited, they'd seen footage of him and they saw his age profile. United had coveted him for a long time. But he's been a huge disappointment. Now, he'll be given time. Other players have had poor first seasons.
"Ralf Rangnick when asked about him a couple of weeks ago talked about the mental side of it being difficult for him."
On Elanga:
"He's been the success of the last few weeks. 19 years old. Made a really good impression, from the very first training session. I know that he's considered to be faster than Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood. He takes on instruction from the manager who likes to trust players who he believes will follow out his instructions. It's one reason that he trusts Cavani, Fred, Scott McTominay.
"Elanga is seen as being aggressive, as very direct. And because Marcus Rashford has not been great, and because Jadon Sancho hasn't been great, there's a pathway into the side for him."
Maybe he'll help enough to get them into the top four and help them progress in the Champions League? If so, he'll quickly become a fan favourite.
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