David Beckham to cut The United Strand's hair?! Man Utd icon tips legendary ex-England captain to do the honours if Ruben Amorim's side win five games in a row

Illet, who went viral for growing out his hair until United won five matches on the bounce, will finally get his wish if United beat Nottingham Forest on Saturday and then win at Tottenham the following week. United's improved form has led to lots of speculation on how the viral fan will celebrate being able to get his long-awaited haircut. And former Red Devils' winger Nani has put Beckham forward to do the honours.

Nani told Covers.com: "If that means that Man Utd is winning, I want him to cut his hair. We need two more games and I believe it's going to happen because of the way we've been playing, I think it’s deserved. Man Utd just need to be very, very disciplined during the next two games, staying humble and working hard. It doesn’t need to be 3-0 or 4-0, 1-0 is enough. I think after he cuts his hair then everything will change and we will look forward. I think he’d like a legend to cut his hair and I think David Beckham should do it, he’s had plenty of practice. He'd be perfect!"

Former United assistant coach Rene Meulensteen believes that the squad can rally around the positive news story generated by Illet's looming haircut and use it as an extra motivation to keep on winning. "Yes because this is a fun thing. It lightens the mood," Meulensteen, Sir Alex Ferguson's former right-hand man, told compare.bet. 

"The players can now get together and say to each other, listen, let’s get to four and then let’s get to five so the boy can have his hair cut. They will feel that energy from each other. It could be a good motivation for the players. I’d even suggest that they should bring him to Carrington and let the players each cut off one pitch of hair at a time. I think you could even bring Sir Alex Ferguson down. I’ve seen him bring his own pair of clippers to Carrington before.

"The big difference between now and 15-20 years ago is social media. It can play such a big part in your life and everybody can throw anything on there with no consequences. It can create a bad vibe around the place. Clubs need to be really clear about this with the players, who need to be aware of what can happen if you keep reading all these negative things because you will start to feel that negativity too. Winning the five games to give the boy his haircut? That can be an antidote for the whole team."

Illet, who is from Oxford but now lives in Spain, has generated a lot of attention since launching his challenge and documenting it on social media. Some it welcome, some of it not. He had his hair pulled by an angry United fan last month, leading to the supporter in question being banned from Old Trafford for life.

He has given many interviews in the media and last month he told talkSPORT that he hopes to get his hair cut on the Old Trafford pitch when United finally win five matches in a row. "There's nothing concrete yet, there's been a few talks. But, my ideal thing would be to get it cut at Old Trafford by one of the players," he said.

"I completely understand why they haven't been in contact with me, I completely get that. But I'm hoping once there's maybe a bit more of a positive vibe around results and things like that, if we're on four-in-a-row, then hopefully they might feel like they're in a place to sort that out for me."