Ahead of the start of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, and like most managers at this point, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be keeping tabs on his entire squad in training.
Regardless of whether there are injuries to players in pre-season, much of the time is spent on the training pitch tweaking little things here and there, and seeing who is making an impression and who isn’t perhaps trying as hard as they might.
The Norwegian will surely be keen to integrate new signing, Donny van de Beek, into the squad, but there’s also an area of the side that needs to be sharpened up and that’s in defence.
Fortunately for Solskjaer, he already has a player at the club who could slot in alongside captain Harry Maguire and save the club millions in transfer fees if he turns out to be as good as everyone expects.
“Ajax made Matthijs De Ligt captain when he was 18,” Solskjaer said on BBC Radio Five Live and cited by the Daily Mirror.
“Teden Mengi has impressed me, you can see something special in him. It is about picking the right moment to give him a chance.”
Picking the right moment appears to be the only thing stopping Mengi from making his first-team debut at present.
However, if an opportunity presents itself, then the manager should take it. It would be sink or swim to a certain extent for Mengi, but he has got to be given a vote of confidence sooner rather than later.