Gomes eager to shake off 'young player' tag after breaking into Man Utd's first team

Angel Gomes is determined to "impose" himself at Manchester United after breaking into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's senior squad at the start of the new season.

The teenage midfielder was handed his full debut for the club in their Europa League clash with Astana last Thursday, helping the Red Devils earn a 1-0 win.

Gomes was then introduced as a second-half substitute during United's 2-0 defeat at West Ham over the weekend, continuing his impressive rise to prominence.

The English starlet is expected to return to the starting line-up when Rochdale visit Old Trafford in a Carabao Cup third-round tie on Wednesday.

Ahead of that encounter, Gomes has insisted that he is ready to "show what he can do", with it his desire to feature more frequently.

“It’s something I have worked for my whole life,” he told MUTV. “I really don’t want to just see myself as a young player coming up now. I want to impose myself and impose what I can do, and not just show the fans but show the club what I am here for really.

“It’s exciting times. Obviously, I grew up here, all my life, and just being here is amazing for me really. Being in the first team is something I’ve worked for and I’m slowly realising it.”

Gomes performed well against Astana, injecting a much-needed creative spark into United's midfield alongside fellow academy prospects Tahith Chong and Mason Greenwood.

He was pleased with his display in the European clash and feels he will improve quickly if opportunities continue to be presented in the coming weeks.

”I thought I did okay [against Astana]," Gomes added. "I tried to get into pockets and tried to go forward, when I could, to create chances. A personal aim is to create a few more chances and get a goal for myself or make a decisive pass that leads to a goal.

“It [showing skill on the ball] comes with confidence, and having more game time and, obviously, more opportunities to show yourself, so it’s something you can expect from the coming games.”

The young playmaker posted an image on social media of him and Greenwood during their schoolboy days at United after their Europa League excursion.

Gomes was delighted to see his team-mate Greenwood net the winning goal and hopes they can both continue to make a telling contribution as the campaign progresses.

“I’ve played with Mason from the under-9s really so it was great to see him score as well,” the midfielder continued. “And it was obviously great to play with Chongy [Tahith Chong] as well because I’ve played with him from the start of the U18s. We all have that understanding and hunger to try and score.

“It has been a very long journey. Mason and I grew up playing in the U9s and in a lot of tournaments.

"There are a lot more pics I could have posted but I tried to get a few of the other lads in there too. You can see Dylan [Levitt] and Dion [McGhee]. So it was great for him to score his first professional goal. He deserves it. He works hard every day and hopefully a lot more of us can demonstrate that as well."