Ethan
Laird

Laird is a full-back with plenty of pace, who has shown his defensive qualities in the younger age groups. His excellent acceleration enables him to link up with the attack to good effect, and he showed his ability to get forward with a goal in the friendly win over MSK Zilina in 2016. The 2017/18 term marked his breakthrough as a first-year scholar as he quickly made a real impact. Capped by England Under-17s, he shows great determination to get forward and scored in the final game of the division against Liverpool. He also operated in the centre of defence towards the end of the campaign. Despite being the youngest player in United's academy intake for 2017, he ended up with 19 appearances to his name and also gained further experience in the Under-23s and UEFA Youth League. In 2018/19, he suffered injury problems and only registered 11 outings for the Under-18s but scored twice and continued to provide assists for his colleagues. After being namechecked by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as one to watch for the future, he was wisely treated carefully and prepared for a full pre-season of hard work. After an explosive start to 2019/20, including the club's first-ever goal in the EFL Trophy (Leasing.com Trophy), in a win at Rotherham United, he bounced back from another injury setback to make his full senior debut in the Europa League match against Astana in Kazakhstan at the end of November. A second outing was soon forthcoming, in the home win over AZ Alkmaar in the same competition, and he signed a new contract in February 2020. After recovering from an injury, he returned to Under-23s action in the first part of the 2020/21 campaign before sealing his first loan move in January 2021 with MK Dons. He performed so well in Milton Keynes that manager Russell Martin brought him to Swansea after moving to the Welsh club in August 2021. He made 21 appearances in all competitions for the Swans, before joining Bournemouth for the second half of their Championship campaign, which eventually saw them win promotion to the Premier League. Laird returned to United in the summer of 2022, featuring on the club's pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia, before agreeing to move to QPR on loan for the 2022/23 campaign.