Rooney given potential United swansong in 2nd-string XI
Kieran O'Hara, Santi Gomes, Zak Dearnley, and Josh Harrop have all been called into the Manchester United senior squad for the first time in Sunday's season-concluding visit from Crystal Palace.
Harrop will start in attack with captain Wayne Rooney, who could be bidding farewell to the Old Trafford faithful after becoming an increasingly peripheral figure in Jose Mourinho's plans this season.
(Photo courtesy: @ManUtd)
Paul Pogba also returns to the starting lineup following the death of his father on May 12, and there are starts for Harrop and Pogba's fellow youth-team products Jesse Lingard, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Joel Castro Pereira, Axel Tuanzebe, Scott McTominay, and debutant Demetri Mitchell.
Those not in the 18-man group include Sergio Romero, Ander Herrera, Antonio Valencia, Juan Mata, Matteo Darmian, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Marcus Rashford - providing a hint of who will start in Wednesday's Europa League final against Ajax.
22 - Manchester United's starting XI today is on average still 2 years & 145 days older than Ajax's last starting XI. Potential.
— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) May 21, 2017
David De Gea hasn't been deployed in continental matches so will be an unlikely starter midweek, while Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling are fighting to be fit for the Stockholm showpiece. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcos Rojo, Ashley Young, and Luke Shaw are expected to miss out.
Visiting Palace has Premier League safety already wrapped up, but Sam Allardyce named a strong XI featuring in-form striker Christian Benteke and former United winger Wilfried Zaha.