Manchester United have triggered a one-year extension to ensure Dylan Levitt will remain at the club next season.
Levitt, who has been with the Red Devils since the age of eight, enjoyed a stunning season on loan with Dundee United. The 21-year-old became a regular under Tam Courts, playing 29 times as The Tangerines secured European football for the first time in a decade.
His six goals also saw him win the Fans’ Player of the Season at the Tannadice, with the Manchester Evening News reporting several clubs from both England and Scotland expressdc interest in signing him. Levitt's Old Trafford contract was set to expire later this summer, but club bosses have triggered a 12-month extension to either give him one more push at breaking into the first team, or ensure United can receive a fee for his services.
Levitt, now 21, acknowledges that he needs regular senior football to continue his progression and has sights set on a place in this winter’s World Cup, should Wales qualify. The midfielder put in a coming-of-age display for the national side on Tuesday, only increasing his chances of a place in Qatar if they can beat Ukraine this weekend.
But remaining at United would put that place at risk with the likelihood that he would remain low down in the pecking order, despite a raft of departures in his position. Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic have already both left, but new manager Erik ten Hag looks destined to bring in at least one new signing in the area.
United legend Ryan Giggs handed Levitt his international debut back in 2020 and has been a vocal supporter of the academy graduate, branding him his ‘type of player’. "When Dylan was in the squad, we had must-win games so I couldn’t really throw him in and put him in that pressure cooker," Giggs said before Levitt’s senior bow.
"But, in training, he’s one of the best. He’s my kind of player – a good character, quiet but tough, and he’s one that I’ll be taking a big look at over the next year or so. I want him to develop and if he does and, if he plays more games, then he’ll definitely be in the reckoning. He’s a really intelligent player with a good range of passing and he stands out in training in every session.”
Giggs’ former teammate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave him his senior United debut against Astana in the Europa League in 2019 and, along with fellow academy star James Garner, he was full of praise for their performance.
He explained: “Some of them are knocking on the door for us. You can see the way we dominated midfield with Jimmy [Garner] and Dylan playing together and it was nice to see them dominating the game.”
