Game at Old Trafford will be bittersweet
IT will be a doubly special moment for Reece James if he plays for Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford this afternoon.
James has been out for 12 months with an ankle injury which required two lots of surgery and his last match came on January 16 last year.
The young defender is desperate to get back into action, and where better than at United, the club where he came through the ranks.
James played just once for United’s first team, but it came in that fateful 4-0 defeat to MK Dons in the League Cup in August 2014.
It was a case of Night of the Long Knives for most of those on duty for Louis van Gaal that evening.
Of United’s 18-man squad, 14 have left the club, three have been sent out on loan for the season and only goalkeeper David De Gea remains.
And James is philosophical when he looks back on that one big chance he had in a red shirt.
“That was a bad result,” he recalls. “There were a few of us chucked in and it was a squad that had never played together before.
“We were facing a team that was really up for it and a very good technical side. When you look at some of the players who were in it – Dele Alli and Benik Afobe – it wasn’t a bad side.
“It was a tough game. It was one of those nights where a mistake happened for the first goal and we went under a bit after that.
“You need leaders to pull you through and on that night, we just didn’t do that.
“The manager was giving us a chance and an opportunity to do what we could but it backfired a little bit.
“Some lads still got a chance after that. I was put out on loan and given a chance to prove myself in the Championship.
“But the MK Dons game killed me and I can only fault myself for that. I didn’t impress on that night.
“Sometimes you have to ask yourself if United is where you’re going to be in the future, long-term.
“You have to understand whether you’re going to make the grade or not.
“Atthattimeinmy career, I felt like I wasn’t and that’s why I made the decision to come to Wigan.
“All you can do is try and work your way back up somewhere to a similar sort of level.”
James still has happy memories of scoring twice in a 7-0 win over LA Galaxy on United’s pre-season tour in 2014 and admits it would be special to step out at Old Trafford today.
“It would be amazing,” he says. “I always aimed to go back to Manchester United and play.
“If I can get on, I will have achieved one of my ambitions.”