When you grow up in Salford, there is a fair chance that you’re going to end up playing for Manchester United at some point, presuming you’re good enough to do so. That is precisely the situation that Jayce John Fitzgerald found himself in, having been born in the closest city to Manchester on the ninth of May 2007.
He was only young when he joined the Manchester United Academy, with his first few appearances coming as a midfielder who was also able to be used in defence if needed. In the opening weeks of the 2024-2025 campaign, that’s where he played for the Under-18s.
Managers in the modern era look for versatility first and foremost, which is why Fitzgerald will doubtless have been secretly delighted to hear himself compared to the Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets.
As with Fitzgerald, the Spanish maestro spent the early part of his career playing in defence before taking the skills he’d learned in the position and shifting forwards into the middle of the park. Whether Fitzgerald goes on to have the same glittering career that Busquets managed remains to be seen, but he coped well with early injuries to make himself part of the Manchester United conversation.