Alan Shearer thinks that Shea Lacey could challenge for a place in the Man Utd starting XI now

Shea Lacey has made six appearances across all competitions for the Manchester United first-team squad and has netted once and picked up an assist so far. However, the United youth academy product has only made one start from his six matches for the Red Devils during the 2026-27 campaign at Old Trafford.

When Lacey was in the Red Devils starting XI, the teenager made an immediate impact by finding the back of the net in United’s 3-2 home defeat to Brighton in the third round of the Carabao Cup in September. Alan Shearer is now convinced that there is a real “shout” for Lacey to start ahead of Amad Diallo on the right wing under Michael Carrick this season.

“And his [Carrick] changes, by the way, Shea Lacey,” he said on The Rest Is Football podcast.

“He came on, did really well, went past players, bit of excitement, got the crowd going a little bit, you know, it’s just those little things that there was no energy, there was no excitement whatsoever in that first half.”

Shearer then added: “And then Lacey, he did more in that when he came on than lots of players have done for a while, you know. So, I don’t know whether there’s a shout for him to start.”

According to Squawka, posted below are Shea Lacey’s stats from his 15-minute second-half cameo for Manchester United against Roma at Old Trafford.

As per ESPN, Lacey had only 13 touches compared to the 41 that Amad Diallo had during his time on the pitch. However, the United winger had an expected assist (xA) ratio of 0.01 compared with Amad’s 0.06. Lacey did not have a shot during his brief cameo against Roma, while Amad only managed one shot during his 75 minutes in Tuesday’s Champions League clash.