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United’s travelling squad for AZ Alkmaar U19s:
Goalkeepers: Cameron Byrne-Hughes, Fred Heath, Will Murdock.
Defenders: Harry Amass, Daniel Armer, Jaydan Kamason, Louis Jackson, Reece Munro, Habeeb Ogunneye.
Midfielders: Zach Baumann, Jacob Devaney, Jayce Fitzgerald, Jack Fletcher, Amir Ibragimov.
Forwards: Gabriele Biancheri, Bendito Mantato, Ashton Missin, Chido Obi-Martin, James Scanlon, Ethan Wheatley, Ethan Williams.
United welcome AZ to Old Trafford for an exciting midweek fixture in a fortnight’s time, on Tuesday 10 December. Tickets are available, costing £3 for adults and £1.50 for children. Fans are encouraged to show their support for the next generation of Reds, and all those who attend will be greatly appreciated by players and staff. Order your tickets here.
UNITED HOST SUCCESSFUL BIOBANDING WEEK
United joined forces with Wolverhampton Wanderers recently to host another successful week of ‘biobanding’.
“Biobanding is essentially just grouping players based on their physical maturation,” explains Alex Ouzounoglou, YDP Athletic Development Lead.
“We remove age groups for a week. Instead, we look at players based on the percentage of their predicted adult height. Within that, we place players in specific bands. So, we have bands from 80-85% of predicted adult height, 85-90%, 90-95% and 95-100%.”
The subject of biobanding and its benefits on young players at United’s Academy was discussed in detail in Lifeblood: Innovation. The club helped spearhead the use of the practice across English football and has regularly led the way in this area. It was fantastic to collaborate with Wolves this season, with both clubs’ U12-U16 age groups training in bio-banded groups during the week before coming up against each other in fixtures across the weekend.