Walsall’s head coach Mat Sadler has praised young striker Ethan Wheatley for his recent progress in training, despite the Manchester United loanee’s limited game time since joining the League Two frontrunners.

The 19-year-old, who etched his name into United’s history books as their 250th academy graduate to make a first-team appearance last season, has found opportunities scarce at Walsall, featuring just three times and missing out on the last three matchday squads.

His last outing was in the 2-2 draw with Salford City on February 1. With Walsall gunning for automatic promotion and competition for places fierce, some January signings have found minutes hard to come by.

However, following the Saddlers’ 3-1 victory over Chesterfield, Sadler hinted that Wheatley could be back in contention soon due to injuries and the forward’s impressive training performances. “Josh [Gordon] looks like he might be out for a little bit,” Sadler said to reporters.

“Ethan, of course, we’re going to need all of them.” He added, “What I will say about Ethan, since he hasn’t been in the squad, he has trained so, so well and put himself in consideration to be on the pitch.”

Before his recent absence from the squad on matchdays, the United prodigy had made three appearances for the League Two team, starting in two of those games. He has accumulated 152 minutes of play since joining the club.

Wheatley had one appearance for United this season before his loan departure last month, coming off the bench in the final moments of the 5-2 Carabao Cup victory over Leicester City at Old Trafford in October. He has played four times for the Reds in total.

This article originally appeared on Manchester Evening News