He could be thrown straight in the deep end.
Erik ten Hag has dropped a major hint as to whether Marcel Sabitzer could play for Manchester United this weekend.
Sabitzer signed for Man United on deadline day, so the Carbao Cup semi-final came too soon for the midfielder to play against Nottingham Forest.
However, he was at Old Trafford in attendance, and it’s sounding like he could be in line to make his debut against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s league game, Ten Hag was asked about whether or not he felt like Sabitzer had trained with the group long enough to take part in the game.
The manager’s response showed exactly how highly rated the Bayern Munich loanee is.
Erik ten Hag on Marcel Sabitzer’s Man United debut
He said: “He has been very good. Of course, he did only one session but you can see he’s a very fit player and I didn’t have different expectations coming from Bayern Munich, German, their fitness is always good. I think he is ready to play.
“I think he’s a really smart player and I think we gave him some guidance but he knows what to do, he knows the job.”
🎙 "He did only one session but you can see he's a very fit player"
Erik ten Hag has no reservations about Marcel Sabitzer being put straight into the starting 11 👇 pic.twitter.com/e74aOYCpQW
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 3, 2023
Ten Hag isn’t the type to throw players in the deep end straight away, but based on his comments about Sabitzer, it seems like he could even be considering given the Austrian midfielder a start against Palace.
Fred, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes all started against Forest on Wednesday night, so it wouldn’t come as a shock to see Sabitzer replace one of them in the team for Saturday’s game.
Fred is the most likely to come out of the team, and with another midweek game against Leeds on the horizon next Wednesday night, Ten Hag will need to chop and change his team more than he would like.
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