Manchester United wonderkids train with first team before Liverpool clash | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim calls in eight youngsters for Carrington session amid shortfall following internationals, including Shea Lacey

Eight youngsters trained with the Manchester United first-team squad ahead of their meeting with Liverpool this weekend.

United are hoping to take advantage of a tough moment for their fiercest rivals and the defending Premier League champions, who have lost three matches in a row across all competitions for the first time under Arne Slot after being defeated by Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea in the space of a week, conceding two stoppage-time winners.

The Red Devils, meanwhile, are finally hoping to start building some momentum with the under-fire Amorim, following a 2-0 win over Sunderland before the international break that marked their third triumph in succession at Old Trafford.

United are now aiming to win away from home for the first time this season, though are yet to have their whole squad back on the training pitch at Carrington.

Lisandro Martinez and Noussair Mazraoui both missed Thursday’s session at the club’s Aon Complex, with the former said to be targeting either the visit of Brighton or trip to Nottingham Forest for his return from a long-term knee injury, and the latter having not played since the win over Chelsea on September 20 due to an unspecified knock.

United’s other recent injury concern has been young defender Ayden Heaven, who was hurt in the first minute of the England Under-20s’ defeat by Switzerland at St George’s Park last week and went off at half-time.

Also not training on Thursday was Bruno Fernandes, United’s influential captain given an extra day off after starting for Portugal in both of their most recent World Cup qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Hungary.

The club confirmed that several players who went away on international duty or trained throughout the break were given Thursday off, including Amad Diallo, who started for Ivory Coast in their win over Kenya on Tuesday and scored an excellent free-kick as they qualified for next summer’s World Cup.

That number also included Casemiro and Matheus Cunha, who both featured for Brazil in each of their recent friendlies against South Korea and Japan.

With first-team numbers depleted, Amorim drafted in no fewer than eight youngsters to train with United’s seniors on Thursday.

That list included highly-rated Liverpool-born winger Shea Lacey, who also spent time training with the senior England squad ahead of their friendly against Wales last week, along with U20 team-mates Harrison Murray-Campbell of Chelsea and Manchester City’s Lakyle Samuel.

Prolific young striker Chido Obi was also present in United training, along with Jacob Devaney, Tyler Fletcher, Sam Mather, Bendito Mantato, Reece Munro and Jim Thwaites.