MANCHESTER UNITED HAVE announced that teenage midfielder Aliou Traore has signed his first professional contract with the club.
Traore only joined United in December, arriving from Paris Saint-Germain amid concerns of a lack of first-team opportunities with the Ligue 1 leaders.
Having only just turned 17, Traore has been tipped for big things and has been compared to his countryman Paul Pogba.
“Aliou is a tremendously gifted young player and we are all delighted to see him sign his first professional contract at Manchester United,” academy head Nicky Butt told ManUtd.com.
“Aliou will naturally need time to adapt, but he has an exciting future ahead of him and we are all looking forward to seeing his performances for the U18s in the second half of this season.”
United U18s coach Kieran McKenna told MUTV last month: “Traore is a boy we’ve been looking at for a while.
“He is a really powerful midfielder who likes to run box to box. He is very strong technically and is improving all the time.”