Manchester United must change approach to loans after James Garner success

The final game of English football's professional season was a good one for Manchester United. James Garner was one of the best players on the pitch at Wembley, finishing an impressive loan spell with Nottingham Forest by helping them to the Premier League after a 23-year absence.

He hasn't kicked a ball for United this season, but so bad has the campaign at Old Trafford been that Garner is one of the more encouraging stories to emerge from 2021/22. He has got better and better for Forest, especially since the appointment of his former England Under-17 manager Steve Cooper in September, and has earned a chance in pre-season with his parent club.

Erik ten Hag will take the midfielder on the tour of Thailand and Australia and with spots up for grabs in an area of the pitch weakened by the departures of Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba, an opportunity is knocking for Garner. How he does on that tour and in the four pre-season games included in the itinerary will decide his next move.

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Garner could yet force his way close to the first-team picture under Ten Hag, but a central midfielder is top of the Dutchman's shopping list and Donny van de Beek is also returning from a loan at Everton. If Garner does enough to be in the first five players up for selection then he might stay at Old Trafford, but at 21 there is also a sense he needs to be playing games and a season of Premier League football with Forest is a possibility.

Garner wasn't the only United player in action at Wembley over the weekend, with goalkeeper Nathan Bishop on the losing side for Mansfield in the League Two play-off final and the 22-year-old has enjoyed a good season. Another