Loan star Tim has impressed during his stay at the Palace...
UNITED’S group of loanees hoping to enhance their Old Trafford chances with a temporary spell away is relatively small compared with their Premier League rivals.
But Tim Fosu-Mensah is one of the headliners.
The Dutchman chose to spend the year on loan at Crystal Palace, with the opportunity to play week in, week out rather than waiting for occasional games at United .
The results have been mixed for Fosu-Mensah personally, and the abrupt sacking of Frank De Boer – replaced by Roy Hodgson – has seen his minutes decrease significantly.
However, he has made 11 appearances, all but two in the Premier League, and there are plenty of reasons for both Jose Mourinho and Fosu-Mensah himself to be encouraged about his future at Old Trafford.
We spoke to Football. London’s Crystal Palace correspondent, Jim Daly, for the lowdown on his season so far. How would you rate FosuMensah’s general performance for Palace so far this season? Pretty good to be honest. At the start of the season he and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were the only players really putting in respectable performances for Palace. Ironically, the two players we don’t own. He started the season very well and made a few brilliant sprints back to make lastditch tackles which almost certainly prevented goals (although Palace still lost all those games). His pace is amazing and he’s certainly the quickest player in the squad.
He has since lost his starting place with Roy Hodgson seeming to prefer Joel Ward at right-back and has had to make do with a substitute appearance at leftback filling in for the injured Patrick van Aanholt against West Ham before playing back on the right against Spurs with Ward at left-back. How has the appointment of Roy Hodgson affected him? Roy seems to have as much experience as possible, hence his decisions to stick with Ward at right-back, even though Fosu-Mensah is undoubtedly a better player already. Do you back him to be playing regularly for United next season after his loan expires? I can’t see him getting in ahead of Antonio Valencia, who I think is one of the most underrated players in the Premier League. Even at 32 I think he has that position wrapped up for a bit.
But what I’ve been most impressed with is his maturity, workrate and patience in waiting for a chance, qualities I’m sure will serve him well back at Old Trafford.