Shea Lacey returns from hamstring injury

For Michael Carrick and his backroom staff, the plan is clear: Manchester United need to secure Champions League football for 2026/27 if this season is to be considered successful.

Bruno Fernandes, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko will be among the players that will be thanked and remembered if the club are to finish inside the top four of the Premier League.

Carrick, too, will receive plenty of plaudits for his part to play – but it would have been a holistic club effort… from back to front.

Although it didn’t seem to be under Amorim’s previous tenure, it’s certainly a very real possibility that a place inside the top four is secured given the Red Devils are currently third in the table with nine matches left to play.

Behind them are the likes of Aston Villa and Chelsea – but United are currently in the driving seat in terms of landing themselves a podium spot come May.

Irrespective of how it ends, 2025/26 will also be remembered as the season when Shea Lacey first got a taste of first team action. Still just 18 years of age, the tricky youngster has been extremely fun to watch when he’s played.

Electric, fearless and willing to let off a shot from range, the Liverpool-born teenager’s career at the club is just getting started.

Early last month, Shea Lacey scored a hat-trick of goals for the club’s Under-21s – and his brilliance, albeit at a lesser level, has caught the eye of club bosses, hence why he was called up by Amorim and then Darren Fletcher.

Having not played for the senior side since he was shown a red card during United’s defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on January 11, fans have been clamouring for his return.

They may not have to wait much longer to watch the dainty forward in action as, according to The Sun journalist Samuel Luckhurst, Lacey is back in training with the club.