{"id":92097,"date":"2025-05-11T06:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T06:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/92097\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T06:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T06:57:11","slug":"man-utd-have-the-next-david-beckham-in-their-ranks-in-17-year-old-prodigy-hes-already-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/92097\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd have the next David Beckham in their ranks in 17-year-old prodigy, he&#8217;s already special"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Manchester United\u2019s season might not have gone according to plan, at least in the league, but the youth development stories have been a bona fide success. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Despite a season of struggle, youngsters like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/harry-amass\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harry Amass<\/a>, Chido Obi, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/tyler-fredricson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tyler Fredricson<\/a>, and Ayden Heaven have cemented their first-team places.<\/p>\n<p>The best thing about all this is that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/club\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Man Utd\u2019s<\/a> next batch of youngsters is equally talented, perhaps even more, and a 17-year-old \u201cNext David Beckham\u201d might be at the forefront of it. <\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s already special and in a campaign where the U18s almost won the title in a tense race against Manchester City, he\u2019s come on leaps and bounds. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2199806080-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Zohaib Alam - MUFC\/Manchester United via Getty Images\" \/>Photo by Zohaib Alam \u2013 MUFC\/Manchester United via Getty ImagesJim Thwaites is a special talent<\/p>\n<p>The batch after the likes of Amass and Fredricson contains exciting talents like Shea Lacey, Amir Ibragimov, Samuel Lusale, and more, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/jim-thwaites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Thwaites<\/a> stands out as a special talent. <\/p>\n<p>The 17-year-old had his first season with the U18s this year and he has sent repeated reminders of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/academy\/man-utd-wonderkid-jim-thwaites-wins-goal-of-the-season-award-in-two-age-groups\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">breathtaking quality on the ball<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>He assisted again for Albert Mills in Man Utd U18s\u2019 recent game against Sunderland and it predictably came off a set piece. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jim Thwaites vs Sunderland u18s (H) <\/p>\n<p>Technique \ud83d\ude80<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MUFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#MUFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MUAcademy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#MUAcademy<\/a> <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bEguzBdT7E\">pic.twitter.com\/bEguzBdT7E<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; UnitedAnalyst (@UnitedAnalyst7) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UnitedAnalyst7\/status\/1921206736569921925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>View Tweet<\/p>\n<p>Thwaites has got a magical ability on set-pieces, be it free kicks or corners which takes the mind back to David Beckham\u2019s mastery of the same. <\/p>\n<p>Thwaites has already scored five free-kick goals this season and the majority of his assists have come off set-pieces too, as he\u2019s become as much a guarantee from dead-ball situations as a player can possibly be.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Beckham, however, Thwaites plays in central midfield, which will work to his benefit in the long run, especially next season when he can stake his claim to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/opinion\/man-utds-replacement-for-christian-eriksen-cost-absolutely-nothing-and-could-end-up-much-better\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christian Eriksen\u2019s replacement<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>His technique is already other-worldly and he isn\u2019t very small either, which can often stop youth players from breaking through in a physical Premier League. <\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/academy\/man-utd-wonderkid-who-upstaged-chido-obi-martin-showed-hes-a-truly-special-talent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced himself at the U18 level<\/a> with brilliant performances with a special talent at set-pieces and the next step should be taken soon.<\/p>\n<p>Man Utd\u2019s plans for Jim Thwaites next season<\/p>\n<p>It is a testament to how much Thwaites has impressed that he\u2019s already been called up to the U21s squad on a couple of occasions. <\/p>\n<p>Next season, the plan should be to make him a permanent member of the U21s setup as he\u2019s already proving to be too good for the U18s level.<\/p>\n<p>Because of his special skill set at set-pieces, loan interest in his services should be plenty as well, since he\u2019s good for 5-6 assists based on that skill alone. <\/p>\n<p>However, United would do well to keep him at the club, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/opinion\/ruben-amorim-has-already-called-up-a-16-year-old-to-training-whose-biggest-strength-addresses-man-utds-big-weakness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bring him to train with the senior squad<\/a> as they\u2019ve done on occasion this season, and maybe drip-feed some minutes to see how he handles the senior team step-up. <\/p>\n<p>If nothing else, his set-piece delivery is already Premier League level like a certain David Beckham who thrilled world football with his free-kicks and crosses. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United\u2019s season might not have gone according to plan, at least in the league, but the youth&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,109,393,4884,43592,2465,43593,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-92097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-david-beckham","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-jim-thwaites","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-u18-premier-league","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114487902805768442","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}