Academy Briefing: How is Sekou Kone developing?

Wednesday 22 January 2025 11:00

There were plenty of positives to take in Manchester United’s Under-21s defeat to FC Nordsjaelland on Tuesday night, with lead coach Travis Binnion reflecting on the benefits of the international competition and the continuing development of midfielder Sekou Kone.

The 3-1 defeat — with Chido Obi scoring our only goal — marked the end of our Premier League International Cup campaign after games against PSV Eindhoven (the Netherlands), Hertha Berlin (Germany) and Sparta Prague (Czechia), as well as Tuesday’s Danish visitors.

Binnion described Nordsjaelland as “the best opposition of the four,” and their results stand up to such an assessment, having also beaten Liverpool and Norwich City.

“These games are a great education for the lads,” he began. “The games programme is giving us what we need and we’re taking a lot from it.

“All the games in this competition have been amongst our best games and toughest games of the season. They’re different in terms of physicality, intensity, intent and time on the ball.”

Binnion reacts to Nordsjaelland test Video

Binnion reacts to Nordsjaelland test

U21s REACTION | Travis Binnion reacts to defeat v FC Nordsjaelland and previews more upcoming exciting tests...

BINNION ON KONE’S DEVELOPMENT

“I think he’s found tonight really hard,” Binnion said of Sekou Kone, who signed from Guidars FC in his homeland of Mali last August.

“He played 75 minutes on Saturday [in victory against Aston Villa] and he’ll go again against Brighton. We’re getting games into him and training into him.

“Listen, he’s a good player [and] he’s going to be a really good player. He’s still getting to grips with the language, the intensity, the positional stuff, and his own fitness.

“You can see tonight that some of their players are fitter than him, some of our players are fitter than him, and that can’t be right in time.

“In time, he’s got to be everywhere on the pitch and finding it easy physically at this level. That’s the challenge of where we’ve got to get to and we will get there, he will get there.

“But [it is] just nice to see him training, playing and keep building on things.”

COMING UP FOR OUR YOUNG TEAMS

The U21s travel to Brighton for a Sunday afternoon Premier League 2 encounter on the south coast. The game cannot be shown live on MUTV due to a clash with a senior league fixture. That will warm our young Reds up nicely for a midweek cup tie at Oldham Athletic.

United have won all three of our games thus far in the inaugural National League Cup, defeating Forest Green Rovers (3-2), Altrincham (4-0) and Rochdale (1-0). Another good result will ensure progress into the quarter-finals, with a win securing top spot.

Wednesday night’s game at Oldham is live on MUTV, and fans can attend at Boundary Park, too, with tickets available here (£5 adults, £1 under-16s).

The U18s are at Wolves this weekend, and then host Manchester City in the latest mini-derby at Carrington the following Saturday.

MUTV INFO AT A GLANCE

Saturday 25 January | Wolves v UNITED U18s | 11:30 | Not live on MUTV
Sunday 26 January | Brighton v UNITED U21s | 16:00 | Not live on MUTV
Wednesday 29 January | Oldham v UNITED U21s | 19:00 | Live on MUTV
Saturday 1 February | UNITED U18s v Man City | 11:00 | Live on MUTV

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