England name exciting Man United youngster in U17 World Cup squad

Manchester United youngster Bendito Mantato has been named in the England 21-man squad for the U17 World Cup, which will be held in November in Qatar.

The list also includes Arsenal’s Jack Porter, Manchester City’s Ryan McAidoo and Dante Headley, Chelsea’s Landon Emenalo, Tottenham Hotspur’s Luca Williams-Barnett.

Mantato was also called up for the U17 European championship in the summer but injury ruled him out of the competition.

He has since been promoted to the U18s who will represent England at next month’s U17 World Cup.

England have been placed in Group E of the 48-team tournament. They face Venezuela in their opening game, before playing Haiti and conclude their group campaign with a clash against North African side Egypt.

The Young Lions won the tournament in 2017 for the first time in country’s history. United academy graduate Angel Gomes and loanee Jadon Sancho were part of the winning squad.

Mantato now has the opportunity to become United’s second academy player to win the prestigious youth competition.

The 17-year-old is expected to play a vital role for England given his immense potential which makes him one of the most promising young talents at United.

He is predominantly a right winger but has been deployed mostly as left back at both club and international level.

Manager Ruben Amorim rates the versatile youngster highly. Last season, he was named in the Europa League matchday squad against Athletic Bilbao and was part of the United squad for the US pre-season tour.

He has yet to be involved in the first team’s matchday squad this season but has played regularly for U18s and U21s.

Article written by Henry Thornton .