'Best in England' - Ex-coach tells Manchester United what they're getting in Brighton wonderkid

Manchester United-bound teenager Toby Collyer has been described as the 'best defensive midfielder in England' at under-18 level.

The Brighton wonderkid looks set to join United this summer, with the likes of Chelsea and West Ham missing out on his signature. The 18-year-old is out of contract with the Seagulls at the end of the season and has already trained with United ahead of his move to Old Trafford.

Collyer has captained England at under-16 and under-17 level, and made his debut for Brighton’s under-18s at the age of just 15. Former coach Mark Beard has tipped the youngster to become a 'top-class player' as he prepares for his move to Manchester.

ALSO READ: Manchester United wantaways are doing club a favour ahead of rebuild

"I was working with the under-15s and under-16s and he was in the under-12s or 13s. I got to coach him once a week then. He rose through the ages and I went up to the under-18s," Beard told Sussex Live.

"Even when he was an under-15 he trained with us [the under-18s] a lot. Even though he didn't play a great deal at under-16 he still trained. You could see he was going to be a top-class player.

"He is a pleasure to coach. He is so low maintenance, what I mean by that is you don't know he is there. He gets on with his job. He regularly put in displays of 8/10 at the least. He had the best running stats, runs 13 kilometres a game, breaks things up. He is so unassuming, he gets on with his job.

"You want 11 of these type of players in the team. You know what you're going to get in training, he works hard, he wants to improve, he's intelligent. He's a good all-round kid."

Describing what United will be getting, Beard added: "He is more of a defensive midfielder but we tried to get a bit more out of