The Manchester United academy just keeps pumping out first-team players in a season full of disappointment by the senior squad.
After Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, Willy Kambwala might just have established himself as the next bonafide first-team option.
The 19-year-old Frenchman was thrown into a baptism of fire against Liverpool due to United’s injury situation and has come out of it with his stock raised.
Kambwala defended with remarkable maturity, tackling when needed, jockeying when needed, and bringing passion into the team.
He was regularly seen pumping up the crowd and his teammates after a last-gasp tackle and held the fort with resilience belying his young age.
He finished with three clearances, two interceptions but one tackle but it was the minor stuff he did that wouldn’t make the headlines which was the most important.
Be it shepherding Darwin Nunez away from the goal to minimise his danger, or holding his position and delaying the attack to allow his teammates to get back into position, this was a mature defender’s performance.
He got booked as well but instead of going extreme and either avoiding confrontation altogether or losing his head, he maintained a balance to see the game out on a yellow card.
In possession, he was safe rather than searching and finished with 83% passing accuracy from 35 passes attempted.
After making his debut start last year in a 2-0 loss to West Ham, which was also a good performance, this draw means that he still hasn’t tasted victory as a starter.
However, in both games, that was due to no fault of his and if anything, he has shown with this performance that he can genuinely be relied upon as an option in the middle of defence.
After Mainoo and Garnacho probably saved the club north of £120 million in the market, Kambwala might just push that figure north of £150 million.
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