The swift arrival of the newest product of the Manchester United academy.
Can you imagine the feeling of 75,000 people cheering your name? Imagine scoring in a full stadium and hearing a roar in the crowd as people celebrate.
At the age of 19, it has been a fast few months for Anthony Elanga and he has quickly risen from playing in the Under 18's/Under 21's for Manchester United, to scoring a crucial goal for the first team in the biggest club competition in the world.
This might seem like a simple finish, but at such a young age the composure and confidence to take this in one touch is incredible. Elanga has the talents of a lethal striker. The mix of speed, relentless hard work, and lethal finishing makes a player like him a threat to score at anytime.
There have been multiple moments to signal that Elanga has the potential to become a very good player in the future.
A key moment was during a rivalry game. Leeds vs. Manchester United is a tie that has a long history and both fanbases do not like each other very much. Unfortunately, this Leeds to a lot of emotion and negative things happening.
During the game, a fan in the stadium threw something onto the field and it struck Elanga in the head. This is reckless behavior that deserves major punishment.
Imagine you were trying to do your job, and somebody came to heckle you and threw a bottle at your head. It would throw you off and you would be affected by it.
It is natural as a human to let a moment like this affect your state of mind for a long period of time.
Elanga bounced back from this immediately, scoring a goal to confirm the win for Manchester United. After scoring the goal he went directly back to the place where he was struck and silenced the crowd.
Elanga clearly has fearlessness and a strong mentality at the age of only 19. The next step for him is to keep his head down and improve. With young players, you often see some of their breakouts and some lose that hunger to keep improving.
Over the next few weeks, Manchester United have big games coming up, with the club competing for a top-four finish this season as well as a potential trophy. Some key games are against Manchester City, Liverpool, and Tottenham
Also, they play the 2nd leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Atletico Madrid in their home stadium.
This is a major opportunity for Elanga to cement his place and become a consistent figure for this Manchester United side. From what we have seen so far, I would put my money on him scoring some more important goals over the next couple of months.
The motivation to play football for Anthony came from his father Joseph Elanga. Joseph was a defender who also played at high levels as a defender.
He played for swedish club Malmo and also played for the Cameroon National Team. Playing alongside the legend Samuel E'to.
Both of his parents had a major effect on his development. At only 11 they moved to England.
From there it wasn't instant success it was a struggle to get Anthony into an academy.
While his dad was the soccer/football player the biggest support came from his mom.
His mom used her connections and got Antony into an academy. That academy was...........
TO BE CONTINUED.....
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