But, having celebrated his 17th birthday on Sunday, Lacey has now officially signed a professional contract with the club he grew up supporting and playing for. Adept at playing on either wing as well as in attacking midfield, Lacey has reportedly been a "leading light" in his age group.
Lacey playing for Man United's U18s (Image credit: Getty Images)
Having recently trained with the Manchester United first team, Lacey reportedly impressed coaches with his silky dribbling and ability on the ball. A left-footed player, his style of play has earned him comparisons with Lionel Messi, and plenty of is expected from him at the club.
Injury has kept Lacey out for a large part of the season, however, meaning he has managed just six appearances in the Manchester United U18 team. During those games, however, he has still scored two and assisted three.
Lacey has also been a member of the England youth setup since U15 level, with the youngster making his debut for the U17 side in September 2023 against Portugal. So far, he has made five appearances in the U17 England team scoring twice.
Lacey trained with the first team recently (Image credit: Getty Images)
There will be still be plenty for Lacey to do to properly reach the Manchester United first team, however, with fellow youth product Alejandro Garnacho having to wait until he was 18 and a few months old until he made his debut against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League in October 2022.
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Regardless, Lacey certainly has a pathway to at least make the Manchester United bench in his future, with the club having had at least one youth team player included in a matchday squad for over 4000 consecutive games now.
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
