Such has been the seamless nature of the midfielder's assimilation to life in United’s first team, it’s easy to forget that precisely a year before our last outing against Newcastle, he was making just his seventh senior start for the club.
Even now, the 19-year-old barely has 50 appearances to his name, and yet it’s near-impossible to imagine a United without him, such has been his deep impact on the collective consciousness.
While 2024 was a breathless, rolling time in United’s history, it was unquestionably the year in which the Academy lad from Stockport has imprinted himself indelibly on his boyhood club.