Timothy Fosu-Mensah
Manchester United coach Louis van Gaal has insisted that he replaced defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah in their 2-1 victory over Everton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium because he was emotionally down.
The 18-year-old brought down Everton’s Ross Barkley after 57 minutes when United were leading 1-0 thanks to Maroune Fellaini but Romelu Lukaku missed the resulting penalty kick.
“I think giving away the penalty affected Fosu-Mensah, he was insecure in his movement,” Van Gaal told the club’s website. “He needed to deal with the pressure and managing his position in relationship to Barkley and [Tom] Cleverley,” he added.
Later on, Chris Smalling bundled the ball into his own net in an attempt to clear a cross on the 75th-minute to level the scores for Everton but an additional time effort from Anthony Martial was enough to send Manchester United into the final of the competition.
Fosu-Mensah has put up series of fine performances for United this season, making seven appearances in the English Premier League.
Ghana coach Avram Grant is expected to meet with him in an attempt to snatch a nationality switch in favour of the Black Stars.
