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How Mengi has made such rapid progress

Related Topics: Matthijs de Ligt, Neil Ryan

The latest Academy debutant, who made his senior bow against LASK last season, only turned 18 at the end of April.

It is almost unheard of to have such a callow youngster pushing to play at the heart of a first-team defence. Matthijs de Ligt is somebody who springs to mind, and has already been referenced by Ole in connection to Teden, because he captained Ajax while still a teenager.

Yet last term's FA Youth Cup skipper has always exuded authority and confidence. Even from his first pre-season trip to Austria with the youth team, he was comfortable talking to us on camera about his ambitions and aspirations for the coming season.