It was so hard, so fast… it was physically on another level. It wasn’t like the first team went easy on us because we were younger. Never. Not for a second. It became more aggressive, if anything!



We understood, though, that it was all for our wellbeing. Making us understand what it takes and what it’s going to be like in the real world, when you go out on a Saturday at Old Trafford and you’re playing against somebody who desperately wants to beat you, so it’s always good to get that real life experience.



That day, we saw what we had to get to. It gave us a taste of it, and then we wanted more and more.



For me, it was the same story when I got my first call-up to the senior squad. We drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace and unfortunately I didn’t get off the bench, but it was such a valuable experience. Everything about it: the whole build up to the game, to see how the first team do stuff is really different; there’s a lot of professionalism. Everyone takes part in what they have to do, it’s very important, everyone’s helping each other to grind out the result. It really helped me in terms of my preparations and how I should be preparing. It’s an eye opener. If you haven’t done it before, it can help you understand what it you actually need to do to become a top player and it puts you on the right stepping stones to go about achieving that.



When I did start making senior appearances for United, in the second half of 2016/17, it was a big step. Life in the first team is hard. You have to step everything up. If you have downfalls in certain areas it can cost you in a game situation, it’s much more of a concentrated environment, you always have to be on the ball, you can’t let yourself slip.



The demands are always there, but I was fine with that. Getting into the first-team squad was massive for me and my family. I’d achieved what I set out to achieve and that put us all on a different wavelength of how we see things.



It’s like, this is real now.



That’s where the hard work really begins.