Manchester United youngster Zidane Iqbal has named two players he looked up to when he was progressing through the ranks in the academy.
The 19-year-old can be considered a breakthrough star for Manchester United after his impressive displays during their pre-season tour in the summer. Erik ten Hag decided to promote Iqbal to the first team and it sounds like the club are plotting a plan for his development, which could see him go out on loan next season.
Iqbal knows his role in the team, too. The Iraq international is being kept as cover until the end of the season, but I feel that having him around the first team on a regular basis will do his development good this year.
It’s going to be a big task for the young midfielder when he does go out on loan. I will be eager to see how he adapts to the physicality of first-team football, which may further explain why the club didn’t send him out on loan this season.
Iqbal was recently asked about his role models when he was coming through the youth system at United. He says he was always looking up to Angel Gomes and Paul Scholes.
“The coaches mentioned Angel Gomes to me. Look at him now, playing for Lille in the Champions League,” Iqbal told ManUtd.com.
“They mentioned Paul Scholes but they’re obviously the players who played down and have gone on to do well. Obviously, other players have played down and their careers have not gone as successfully as they wanted it to.
“But I knew I could make the situation really good by looking up to players like Scholes and Angel, if they played down. I look at it as a positive, they’re doing it to better you, so that’s what I did and it helped me a lot.”
I think everyone will understand Iqbal’s shout for Scholes, but Gomes comes as a little surprise.
Gomes was brilliant player for United in the academy and things didn’t quite go to plan for him in the first-team. That said, he deserves enormous credit for kicking on and becoming a key player for Lille in France.
Have great belief in iqubal and mainio fingers crossed that they will make it