Introducing Anthony Elanga: The Swedish son of a Cameroon international breathing life into Manchester United

The professional life of a footballer can hinge on any number of moments, however big or small, and it is already tempting to wonder whether the appointment of Ralf Rangnick will go down as the defining twist in the Manchester United career of Anthony Elanga.

Nineteen years old, quick, energetic and enthusiastic: Elanga provokes the same emotional response for United’s supporters as Marcus Rashford once did. There is nothing quite so invigorating as youthful exuberance, and it is a measure of Elanga’s considerable promise that he is fast becoming one of his manager’s most trusted attackers.

Elanga’s goal here, against a Brentford team that had battered United for much of the first half, marked the key moment in a victory which may not have been entirely deserved but was desperately needed. It was a goal of some quality, too, with Elanga showing his technical skill and speed of thought as he eluded Brentford goalkeeper Jonas Lossl with his first touch and then finished the move with his second.

To think, Elanga had not even made a Premier League appearance this season until Rangnick’s first match as interim manager. In a squad boasting some of the finest and most expensive forwards in the game, it is the little-known teenager who has suddenly emerged as a crucial attacking figure. Evidently, Elanga has gone all-in on Rangnick’s methods. Can the same be said of his more illustrious team-mates?

“I appreciate the boss so much,” said Elanga afterwards, his braces shining at the television cameras. “If you put in the work in training you get the results you deserve."

A lesson there, perhaps, to some of the other attacking options at Rangnick’s disposal. Anthony Martial, Jadon Sancho and Rashford can only watch on enviously at the moment, with Elanga starting the last two matches and no doubt certain to play a third in a row when United meet West Ham United this weekend.

The son of former Cameroon international Joseph Elanga, the winger is a Sweden youth international who joined United when he was only 12 years old. United’s homegrown products do not necessarily have to come from Manchester these days, although Elanga certainly moves with all of the confidence and skill that one has come to expect from those who have made the well-trodden journey from academy to first team.

Best of all is the sense that Elanga is simply enjoying the opportunity to play football, which does not seem to be true of so many of his team-mates. His enthusiasm here contrasted sharply with the sulking figure of Cristiano Ronaldo, who fumed when he was substituted and acted more like a teenager than the actual teenager on the pitch.

“To play with a player like Ronaldo, that is just an honour,” said Elanga. Such an approach to the game can be refreshing and Rangnick will know better than anyone that there are few teams more in need of fresh impetus than United, who were so stale and flimsy in the opening exchanges.

In a dreadful first half for United, it was Elanga who looked the least daunted by the home side’s intensity. In the second, he was his team’s biggest threat. “He was outstanding in the second half,” said Rangnick. “He put in a lot of work.”

Who is to say what the future will hold for a young talent at one of the world’s biggest clubs, especially one as chaotic as the modern United. The very least that can be said of Elanga, though, is that he has made his mark under Rangnick. That is an achievement in itself, as is the fact that some of United’s senior forwards, those with far bigger reputations and egos, should now be looking up to him, rather than the other way around.

How he played

Encouraged to drift inside

In Rangnick's 4-3-3, which he used at Brentford, Cristiano Ronaldo takes up a nominal position as the central forward but - not unsurprisingly - appears to have licence to drift around the pitch in search of the ball, as his touch map emphasises:

That means Elanga, who started on the left, was encouraged to drift inside and occupy spaces left by Ronaldo. It was this movement in from the flank which resulted in him scoring the opening goal, after Fred picked him out with an exquisite pass and he finished with a neat touch and close-range header:

Creative influence

No midfielder or attacker had a better forward half completion rate than Elanga, which underlined his importance as a creative influence. The caveat is that a good proportion of those passes were short balls played just inside from the wing.