Bramall has all the ingredients: Wenger
LONDON: Former non league player Cohen Bramall has the all round qualities to make it at Arsenal said Gunners manager Arsene Wenger on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old defender — who a week ago was facing life on the dole queue after being made redundant by luxury carmakers Bentley — will first be tried out in the Under-23 side.
However, Wenger — who was impressed by his trial period and persuaded Arsenal to pay Hednesford Town £40,000 (46,000 euros, $48,500) — said he would have to prove he could challenge for a first team place pretty quickly.
“First he has to show at youth level that he can quickly make the first team,” Wenger told the club website.
“Overall I believe he has fantastic physical qualities, he has a good level of motivation because he has gone down and come up again.
“He has to prepare, to challenge the first-team players as quickly as he can. That could be in a very short period of time.
“He has the ingredients: the timing of his runs is very good, he has decent technique and exceptional pace. These are very important ingredients today.
“He was an athlete before and he came late to the game and that’s why I believe in him.
“Can he manage the tactical aspect and the technical aspect- Physically, he will be top level.”
Bramall — who may end up crossing swords with another former Hednesford product in Wales captain and central defender Ashley Williams who is at Everton — faces competition to make the senior first team from Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs. — AFP MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini struck to give Manchester United a 2-0 victory over injuryravaged Hull City in Tuesday’s League Cup semifinal first leg at Old Trafford.
All eyes were on United captain Wayne Rooney, who is chasing a record 250th goal for the club, but it was Mata who broke the deadlock in the 56th minute before substitute Fellaini added a late second.
It puts Jose Mourinho’s men in the driving seat ahead of the return leg on January 26, although it was not until Fellaini headed home in the 87th minute that they finally put the game beyond Hull.
Nevertheless, they have now won nine games in succession and look in fine fettle ahead of arch rivals Liverpool’s visit in the Premier League on Sunday.
Hull’s new manager Marco Silva, taking charge of his second game, was able to name only six substitutes and lost both Markus Henriksen and Josh Tymon to injury.
Liverpool, last season’s beaten finalists, visit Southampton in the first leg of the second semifinal on Wednesday.
Despite Mourinho making seven changes to the team that had outclassed Reading 4-0 in the
ROONEY GOES CLOSE Henriksen was left clutching his right shoulder in agony after being knocked over by Paul Pogba and had to go off in the 16th minute, with Abel Hernandez taking his place.
United, missing the ill Zlatan Ibrahimovic, continued to swarm forward, Mkhitaryan twice shooting wide, Rashford lashing over and Jakupovic shovelling a long-range Pogba effort over the crossbar.
But Hull, the Premier League’s bottom club, began to offer an attacking threat of their own as half-time approached in the club’s first ever League Cup semifinal match.