McKenna: Picking my three nominees was tough

Chong may have been elevated to the Under-23s but features in this category after illuminating United teams at various levels with his speed and skills. Garner, the England Under-17 captain, has also taken on the armband for the Reds and is maturing nicely as he starts to dictate games from the middle of the park.

Republic of Ireland youngster O'Connor is another with leadership qualities who has already forced his way into Ricky Sbragia's Reserves squad and always looks unflappable under pressure and comfortable in possession.

I voted Lukaku, Matic for goal of the season, Mitchell and Chong. A mention to Garner & O’Connor mind as they have both had belting seasons #MUFC https://t.co/SGBHjKryQ0

— Oliver (@United_roadMUFC) April 18, 2018

My POTY vote #MUFC

First team - Romelu Lukaku
U23 - Ethan Hamilton
U18 - James Garner
Goal of the season - Nemanja Matic@ManUtd

— Muhammad #MUFC ⚽ (@sani_atk) April 17, 2018

"It was hard," McKenna told MUTV. "A lot of different factors come into it - a player's age, whether he's a first-year or second-year [scholar] or an Under-16s - in terms of who we put forward.

"It could have been a number of candidates that we picked but, in the end, I thought Tahith, Lee and Jimmy could get the opportunity. Credit to those boys as they are three who have worked really hard and had very good seasons for different reasons.

"Those three would also be the first to acknowledge they've had a really good group of boys to play with, week in and week out, and to train and compete with on a daily basis."