Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is being forced to call upon some of Manchester United’s highly-rated youngsters for Wednesday’s Premier League trip to Crystal Palace.
United are in the midst of an injury crisis with a remarkable nine players missing out at Selhurst Park – and Tahith Chong is in line to feature against the Eagles.
Chong is on the bench in south London alongside fellow prospect James Garner.
But what we do we know about Tahith Chong? talkSPORT.com have taken an in-depth look at the talented teenager, and you can read our scout report below…
Basic details
Name: Tahith Chong
Date of birth: December 4, 1999 (age 19)
Height: 1.85m
Position: Winger
Club: Manchester United (1 app / 0 goals)
National team: Netherlands Under-21s (1 app / 0 goals)
Who is Tahith Chong?
Chong is a 19-year-old forward who plays for Manchester United, having joined from Feyenoord in the summer of 2016. He immediately started representing United’s Under-18s but had his season cut short when he suffered a cruciate injury in January 2017.
He returned to the Under-18 set-up ten months later, and made his Under-23 debut at the beginning of 2018 – scoring United’s goal in a 3-1 loss to Spurs with Jose Mourinho, the club’s former manager, watching from the stands.
Playing for the Under-23s this season, Chong has so far scored seven goals in 15 appearances and created a further three, whilst also appearing in United’s UEFA Youth League campaign.
Chong was one of a group of United academy players taken on the club’s pre-season tour of the US, and he featured for 94 minutes – the most minutes of any academy played included in Mourinho’s travelling squad.
He earned a first call-up to the senior squad in a competitive fixture against Juventus in October 2018, when he was named on the bench.
A few months later, Chong was handed his debut by interim manager Solskjaer in the 2-0 FA Cup defeat of Reading, being introduced as a second-half substitute for Juan Mata.
Style of play
A left-footed wide player, Chong started his United career as a proper throwback winger; he loved to show off his pace and trickery as he got up and down the flank, creating goals for others as well as scoring them himself. His explosive style of play makes him incredibly hard to deal with, and it is something of a shock to see a player so tall and skinny move so quickly across the ground.
Chong has primarily moved out onto the right flank for United’s Under-23s and he caught the eye in that position during the senior side’s pre-season tour of the US. While he still hugs the touchline in the manner of a classic winger, Chong also looks to cut inside and put the ball on his stronger left foot. In United’s pre-season clash against Club America he popped up in the number 10 position at times, and had his best joy against the opposition defence when moving infield.
Aside from his exceptional talent of running with the ball, Chong’s biggest strength is undeniably his ability to deliver the ball from wide. It is his crossing – both swinging crosses from deep and hard driven deliveries across the face of goal – that often stands out when Chong takes to the field.
Weaknesses
The only real weakness evident in Chong’s game at this early stage of his development is his almost incessant use of his left foot. Even when dribbling he always prefers to keep the ball away from his weaker right foot, though he is hardly punished at youth level for that remarkable one-footedness.
When he starts getting a chance in senior matches, Chong will find the game much more unforgiving, and he’ll surely need to start using both feet to play at the highest level.
Video evidence