'Desperate for these' - Manchester United stars of future have three games to send Ruben Amorim message

Manchester United Under-21s continue their National League Cup campaign this week with head coach Travis Binnion eyeing up three more key games for his youngsters.

United crashed out of the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night, with only one of the Premier League's U-21 sides progressing to the knockout rounds this season. Binnion's side earned a win at Barnsley and a draw at Doncaster before losing to a strong Huddersfield Town side in their final group game.

While the competition stll comes in for criticism, Binnion values the experience it offers to United's young players, as well as the competitive edge that is present in all fixtures, highlighted by Huddersfield's decision to field their strongest side to try and guarantee progress to the knockout rounds.

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It offers a break from the usual diet of Premier League 2 fixtures and is one of three competitions that Binnion feels is adding value to the games programme for his side, with the newly introduced National League Cup another.

That pits U-21s teams against National League outfits and United got their campaign under way with a 3-2 win at Forest Green Rovers in October. They make the shorter trip to Altrincham on Tuesday night and then face Rochdale at Spotland in the first week of December, before a January game at Oldham.

The Premier League International Cup is another competition Binnion believes helps to push his young charges on. United have drawn with Hertha Berlin and PSV Eindhoven so far and face Sparta Prague on December 7 and then Nordsjaelland in January.

"When you don't have the B team