Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has set the expectations for young players who might get a chance to impress him in pre-season or through the upcoming campaign.
Ten Hag has given chances to young Man Utd players like Harry Amass and Toby Collyer on the trip to the United States.
The Dutch coach expects that these players will step up and use their opportunities to impress wisely.
He wants to see the right sort of attitude and intelligence from his players and will be watching them all closely in their final pre-season friendly against Liverpool.
“The schedule, the FIFA calendar, is so complicated and seasons go over one another,” Ten Hag told ManUTD.com.
“That gives a great opportunity for young players to show themselves.
“And what I want to see from young players, of course, that should be normal. That should be the foundation that you have; the energy, that you have the right focus, that you have the right spirit.
“But also what I want to see here, [is] that they use their brains, because that is necessary to enter the pitch at Old Trafford, to enter the Premier League, to enter the Champions League and to match the standard, to get into the right levels.”
Ten Hag insists that top professionals in modern football need to be intelligent on and off the pitch.
“Football is a very complicated sport,” noted the manager.
“Top football is even more [complicated] and, nowadays, football players, they have such high requirements on their brains.
“In the game, decision-making, mentally, [in terms of] lifestyle… It’s so complicated. You have to bring your brain skills in, to be acting on the top level.”
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Ten Hag was on the fence about the transfer business of the club when asked about his squad depth in an interview with Sky Sports.
The team signed promising young defender Leny Yoro only to see him sidelined with a serious injury in the pre-season.
“We are always looking for having squad depth cover for all the positions as possible double, because we know we go into the season and it’s a survival of the fittest,” Ten Hag said.
“But it needs to be the right player and finance, FFP all fits. These things we have to take into mind otherwise we can’t bring a good squad on the pitch.
“We know what to do. Injuries are part of the process. You can’t avoid it because top football, you go intense and it’ll happen. Then you need a squad who can cover this.”