Maxi Oyedele scored his first senior goal on Saturday to help Altrincham secure a victory over play-off pushers Woking.
Making his second appearance since going on loan to Greater Manchester side Altrincham, Oyedele came off the bench in the 57th minute to score the eventual winner ten minutes later.
The midfielder arrived in the box to dispatch Regan Linney’s cross and ran off to celebrate in a familiar fashion to United fans, with a copy of Marcus Rashford‘s now trademark celebration.
A first senior goal for the man on loan from @ManUtd ⭐️
Altrincham 2-1 Woking | 80' pic.twitter.com/r5J3lrUPlh
— Altrincham FC (@altrinchamfc) February 18, 2023
The 18 year old is one of a trio of United academy players on loan with Altrincham along with Joe Hugill and Sonny Aljofree but is the only one as of yet to feature in a matchday squad for the National League side.
After the win, Altrincham manager Phil Parkinson was left impressed with the youngster saying “he’s had to wait really patiently for his time. What he’s delivered today is what he’s been telling me he’s going to do so he just needs to keep doing it now and keep his place in the team.”
“Physicality is not a problem for Maxi, it’s more about his game awareness, game understanding. He’s shown me he’s got that today.”
“We took a bit of a risk putting him in so early in the second half, but again I wanted to see if he could deliver on what we spoke about and he has. He has done ever so well.”
“He’s at a great club at United. If he wants to get there he’s got to be a standout player for us and I’m sure he will be.”
A Salford native, Oyedele represents Poland at youth level through his mother and is also eligible for Nigeria and England.
Still eligible for u18s football, the all action midfielder is unusually young for a loan away from United but the prospect of senior football was too enticing to turn down, especially with a packed group of midfielders in United’s u21s set up leaving little playing time to spread around.
Oyedele will be hoping his impression off the bench will have earned him a first start for his loan club with their next match coming on Tuesday away to Barnet.