Anthony Elanga relishing competition for places at Man Utd

Anthony Elanga has revealed that he is relishing the prospect of competing for his spot in the Manchester United starting XI this season.

Elanga’s emergence as a first team player was one of the few positives of United’s 2021/22 season, with the Swede making 21 Premier League appearances and scoring two goals.

However, Elanga faces increased competition for his spot this season following the return of Anthony Martial from his loan spell at Sevilla, while Marcus Rashford has also vowed to bounce back to his best under new manager Erik ten Hag.

Despite this, the 20-year-old has insisted that this competition does not faze him.

“It’s healthy competition,” he said. “It’s important to have competition like that in training because, if someone starts ahead of you in games, then it will motivate you to work even harder in training to try to take their position in a game. It’s always important to have competition in the team.”

Elanga was speaking after United’s pre-season friendly victory over Melbourne Victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

After conceding first the Red Devils ran out 4-1 victors, a result which came just a few days after they beat Liverpool 4-0 in Thailand.

“It was a great crowd,” he added. “From the warm-up, we could tell that they were on it. We conceded early on and it’s was important to get the two goals and settle the game. In the second half [after 10 substitutions], the second team did amazing and controlled the game. I’m really happy.”