Manchester United Under-21s chief Adam Lawrence says Shea Lacey's regular exposure to first-team training is developing his all-round game.
Lacey was excellent in the 3-2 win over Sunderland in the PL2 play-off last-16 tie at Leigh Sports Village.
The 19-year-old showed off his superb close control, balance and excellent passing skills before he cut in off the right wing and drilled a precise low shot into the bottom corner that effectively sealed a last-eight trip to Crystal Palace.
It was a surprise to see Lacey involved given he was on the first-team bench for their most recent games against Leeds and Chelsea, but Lawrence was glad to have him available.
"Shea is playing with a lot of maturity," he said. "You can see training with the first team and being around their programme consistently is definitely helping him in a lot of areas of his game.
"It was a really good performance. He got his goal and he looked like a real threat at the top end of the pitch."
Lacey had a long spell out of the game during the 2023-24 campaign with a thigh complaint, then missed a month more recently after suffering a calf strain.
Generally, he has been operating at a high level and United feel he has huge potential.
"Credit to all the staff who work behind the scenes managing him – all the sports science and medical staff, just in terms of where he's got himself to," said Lawrence.
"He's a young man and maturing all the time. Sometimes we forget he's going through those years of growth.
"But that maturity is something we've definitely seen an improvement with, on and off the pitch.
"Hopefully he will continue to build on that and take confidence from it."
