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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Kieran King

Anthony Elanga named Man Utd's fastest player after nearly breaking world record

Anthony Elanga has been named as the fastest player in the Manchester United squad by former great Bryan Robson following the club's 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

Erik ten Hag's side made it three wins from three matches in pre-season as Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho struck for the Red Devils in Melbourne. This win came after United beat Melbourne Victory 4-1 last Friday and earned an impressive 4-0 win against Liverpool in Bangkok.

The Red Devils pre-season squad is littered with emerging talents and Elanga is one a number of players under the age of 21 to feature. Charlie Savage, Zidane Iqbal and Hannibal Mejbri have also played minutes throughout their tour in Asia and Australia, and Ten Hag has done well to blend them into the first-team.

The Dutchman has tried to implement his philosophy on the club and it is clear some of the players are taking in his instructions, with the forward line looking particularly effective with their ability and dynamism. The likes of Rashford and Sancho have caught the eye with their lung-busting sprints and eye for finding the back of the net.

Man Utd players performing sprinting exercises in training (Getty Images)

But speaking to MUTV, Robson named neither of those two as the fastest player in the squad. Instead, that honour was given to Elanga, going by technical director Darren Fletcher's judgement. "When I was speaking with Darren Fletcher, he said he’s [Elanga] probably the quickest at the club," Robson said.

Elanga had a breakthrough season last time around, making the jump from academy to first-team football and becoming a regular under Ralf Rangnick. He was arguably one of the few positive takeaways from a dismal campaign for the Red Devils, scoring three goals in 29 appearances.

Anthony Elanga in action for Manchester United against Melbourne Victory (Getty Images)

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Discussing Elanga further, Robson added: "He has to use that pace and make the right runs. He has to get in the box and score goals. If you get four chances in a game can you put two of them away?"

It has only been three weeks since Elanga almost broke a world record during pre-season training. He was spotted doing some impressive box jumps and the Sweden international set a new personal best in the process.

A social media post showed him jumping 63 inches - just over five foot. That is only four inches off the world record set by American personal trainer Chris Spell, who confessed it took months of training to achieve such a jump.

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