Who is Will Fish? Man Utd defender drafted in for pre-season games vs Crystal Palace & Aston Villa

Will Fish is reportedly set to meet up with the Manchester United squad ahead of the second leg of their pre-season tour in Australia.

The Red Devils began their summer travels in Bangkok, where they beat Liverpool 4-0 in Erik ten Hag’s first game in charge, with Jadon Sancho, Fred, Anthony Martial and Facundo Pellistri on the scoresheet.

Now the Dutchman and his squad are off to Australia, where they will face Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa before returning to England.

As always, pre-season affords several youth players the opportunity to shine, with Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage impressing in midfield in the win over Liverpool, while the likes of Nathan Bishop, Ethan Laird, Hannibal and Alejandro Garnacho are academy prospects who have been included in United’s squad for the four pre-season games outside of Europe.

According to the Telegraph, another name has joined that list, with Fish set to fly out due to Ten Hag’s lack of centre-back options.

In fact, left-back Alex Telles had to deputise at the heart of defence on Tuesday given the players United had at their disposal.

Phil Jones didn’t travel out with the initial squad and Harry Maguire missed the opening game through injury.

ManchesterWorld has also been informed Axel Tuanzebe has left the group due to a ‘small personal issue’ although United were unwilling to comment on the reports surrounding Fish.

The Manchester Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst also tweeted to say the centre-back was ‘linking up’ with the United squad down under.

Who is Will Fish?

The Manchester-born defender came through the United youth set up and made his first-team debut on the final day of the 2020/21 campaign, coming on in injury-time during the 2-1 win at Molineux.

Fish, who signed a contract extension with the club earlier this summer, has captained England underage teams up to Under-19s and was a regular for United’s Under-23s last term.

The 19-year-old spent the first half of the campaign on loan at non-league Stockport County, but only made two senior appearances before returning to United in January. Fish wears No.48 for the club.

He’s a physically imposing defender who tends to dominate in the air, and while the teenager made a few errors for the U23s last season, he has no recurring themes of weaknesses or mistakes which would concern the club.

Fish is also comfortable in possession, can carry the ball well and, while his loan at Stockport didn’t go to plan, a source has told ManchesterWorld the experience taught him ‘useful stuff about mentality and character’.