Earlier this week Manchester United announced that their promising young defender Cameron Borthwick-Jackson had agreed to a season long-loan move away from Old Trafford.
Borthwick-Jackson, who operates primarily as a left back, appeared 14 times for United’s first team under Louis Van Gaal, but was sent on loan to Wolves when Jose Mourinho came to the club last season.
After just seven appearances at Molineux during the last campaign, United fans would have been keen to see their 2015/2016 U21 player of the year either near the first team squad again, or loaned to a club that can guarantee him some regular football. With the former again unavailable, Borthwick-Jackson was sent on loan, however the choice of Leeds United as his new club, did not sit very well with many United fans on Twitter.
Leeds United and Manchester United has been one of British football’s most bitter rivalries since the 1970s but despite the two clubs only meeting twice in the last decade, Manchester United fans clearly still hold a lot of animosity towards their Yorkshire counterparts as the dozens of angry Twitter replies seems to suggest. Some referring to Borthwick Jackson’s new club as “scumbags” and a “pathetic excuse of a club”
Despite the fans’ hostile reaction Borthwick-Jackson’s move to Leeds may turn out to be very beneficial to both parties. The Championship club look to have lost their first choice left back Gaetano Berardi for several weeks with a shoulder injury so the 20 year old may be thrust into first team action immediately. This means that Borthwick-Jackson should get some valuable first team experience over an extended period of time, something he lacked at Wolves last season.
Borthwick- Jackson becomes only the fourth player to join Leeds from Man United since the turn of the millennium and only the ninth in the history of the two football clubs.
Oisin McQueirns