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Angel Gomes is destined for the very top but should steer clear of former employers Manchester United, according to treble-winner Nicky Butt.
Butt, who was head of United’s academy when Gomes signed his first professional contract in 2017, feels that the 24-year-old could slot in easily at big teams in top leagues.
But he cautions that the state of United’s midfield could make an Old Trafford return a hiding to nothing for the slight midfielder.
“He could play in the Premier League easily. He could play for City tomorrow,” Butt told the PA news agency, via The Express.
“But then you put him in at Man United at the minute and he’s got to have the legs to go through the centre of midfield where there’s a massive gap, people run through the Man United midfield like you wouldn’t believe. Then it’s a really difficult game for him.”
Gomes took the brave decision to leave Old Trafford in 2020 in search of more game time than then-manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer could offer him. He made his United debut in 2017 against Crystal Palace, becoming the youngest player ever to represent the club in the Premier League and the first player born in the 21st century to play in the competition.
He completed a switch to Ligue 1 side Lille, who immediately sent him out on loan to Portugal, where he impressed at Boavista.
Since his return to the Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Gomes has blossomed into a prime midfielder, earning his first senior England cap against Finland last week.
Gomes repaid the faith shown in him by interim head coach Lee Carsley, and turned heads with an accomplished performance in the engine room.
Since then, he has been linked with a move to a host of teams across Europe – notably United’s bitter rivals Liverpool, Arsenal and Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United.
Whether those rumours informed Butt’s comment that “I think he can do better than some of the teams that will be in for him in the Premier League” isn’t clear, but Butt feels that if anything “the Spanish league is written all over for Angel”.
Butt recalls that “When Angel left United, I said to him ‘you’re going to go on and have an unbelievable career and I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up playing against Manchester United for Barcelona or Real Madrid in the next five, six, seven years’, because he was that good.
“And I’m not just saying that now that he’s made his England debut, I genuinely thought that a long time ago.”
Feature image by Adrien Dennis via Getty Images
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