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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Richard Fay

Nine Manchester United youngsters train with first team ahead of Manchester derby

Manchester United gave youth a chance to impress as they continued their preparation for the Manchester derby clash against Manchester City this weekend.

Erik ten Hag's side return to action when they face their noisy neighbours at the Etihad on Sunday and will be looking for another positive result to continue their resurgent run of form.

United's preparation for the match has been affected by the international break, with many of their star players still away on national team duty until the end of the week.

READ MORE: Ten Hag faces huge decision over whether to unleash secret weapon against Man City

Ten Hag did welcome some of his senior stars back on Tuesday, however, with the likes of Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Scott McTominay pictured in training.

With so many experienced players away, the United manager gave a crop of highly-rated youngsters a chance to impress, though only a few of them have any hope of featuring in the coming weeks.

Zidane Iqbal and Alejandro Garnacho are now both recognised as first-team fringe players rather than youth-team hopefuls, though the young duo could feature in either set-up as required this season.

There was also involvement for Shola Shoretire and Charlie McNeill, two teenagers who have already made their senior debuts but are still predominately featuring for the youth teams at this stage.

Youth Cup winning trio Rhys Bennett, Marc Jurado and Sam Murray were also involved, as was youth team centre-back Bjorn Hardley.

However, perhaps the most interesting call-up was that of youngster Toby Collyer, who was signed from Brighton back in March.

The highly-rated teenager has captained England at U16 and U17 level and left Brighton after failing to agree terms on a new deal with the club.

Collyer, 18, is yet to feature for United U21s this season, although he has been on the bench for the last two games.

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