Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj hopes Tuesday night’s FA Cup fourth-round replay at home to fourth-tier Cambridge United will help him to prove his worth to manager Louis van Gaal.
The 19-year-old Belgium international was one of the few success stories during David Moyes’s 10 months in charge at United, ahead of Van Gaal getting the coaching job this season.
At the corresponding stage last season, Januzaj had made 24 appearances and scored three goals, including two in a 2-1 victory at Sunderland that signalled his arrival on the Premier League scene.
But under Van Gaal, Januzaj has played in only 14 games this season, with his start in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Leicester City just his fourth of the campaign and first since November.
“I’ve not been playing for so long so it was good to get 90 minutes, even if I was really tired in the last 15 minutes and got cramp,” Januzaj said.
“Of course, we want to win the FA Cup and this is a big chance to win it. We were good going forward against Leicester and could have scored more than three goals but, hopefully, we can take this into Tuesday night and win the game.”
Van Gaal was more expansive when discussing the future of Januzaj, who turns 20 this week.
It was predicted that the youngster would be allowed to leave the club on loan during the January transfer window but the United manager has been impressed by Januzaj’s efforts of late and chose instead to keep him at Old Trafford.
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“He has a lot of talent, but you have to perform that talent in the matches. And also in the training sessions,” Van Gaal said. “I’m not making the line-up. The players themselves are making the line-up. You don’t believe that, I think.
“I look at players every day. I observe and I communicate with my players what I want. And the moment I think, ‘OK, he is now ready to play’, then maybe I can let them play.”
The FA Cup is the only competition that United stand a realistic chance of winning and with Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur among the teams out of the competition, the field has opened up.
United, embarrassed by a 0-0 draw in the first meeting between the sides, therefore seem certain to field a strong line-up, with Van Gaal claiming he will resist the temptation to hand a debut to new goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
Perhaps distracted by the prospect of the trip to Old Trafford, Cambridge’s league form has not matched their efforts in the cup, with Richard Money’s side collecting just one point from their past two League Two games.
Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Luton Town, which left Cambridge in the bottom half of the division, provided a wake-up call.
The replay will give an opportunity for midfielder Luke Chadwick to return to the club where he started his career. Winger Ryan Donaldson also has some experience of the stadium.
The winners of the game will visit either Preston North End or Sheffield United.
