[ ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE] - Adnan Januzaj to benefit from supporting cast at Manchester United

When Adnan Januzaj was given his new Manchester United squad number in the summer, the expectations he must meet were explicitly declared. The teenager need only glance at the dugout to see assistant manager Ryan Giggs, who wore No. 11 from the winter of 1991, four years before
Januzaj was born, until May of this year. On Sunday, three months after inheriting Giggs' number, manager Louis van Gaal's deployment of the 19-year-old just might point where he fits for the future.
"Ryan is like a godfather," Januzaj told United's official website this week. "I was really happy to get the number of such a legend and it was a really big deal for me. Things have changed because it is a big responsibility to wear the No. 11 shirt and having the number of a legend is really big."

Things have indeed changed. Januzaj serves as a lightning rod for the transformations that have taken place at United in the past year. Twelve months ago, as the club entered its downward spiral under David Moyes, a boyish Januzaj was carrying hopes almost alone.

"He's one of the best young talents in Europe and he will go on to become one of the best players," said Moyes of Januzaj earlier this month in a Telegraph interview that launched his comeback campaign. "He was young and he was going to not do it all the time but he has incredible skill, a good temperament and with the right degree of arrogance."

The two goals and match-winning showing Januzaj displayed at Sunderland on Oct. 5, 2013, created a frenzied media flurry, including a rather contrived moral panic over whether a Belgian-born Kosovar-Albanian could be naturalised to play for England. Considering the Raheem Sterling and England farrago of the last month, those at United are probably hugely happy that their star teenager chose Belgium instead.

Unlike Sterling, now given centre stage after the departure of Luis Suarez from Liverpool, Januzaj can be allowed time and space to grow. Though he might feel he has to live up to Giggs' weighty legacy, he now has other players to help him along.

Last season, Januzaj impressed alone of all United's flank players. Nani frustrated, Wilfried Zaha struggled to make an impact and was loaned back to Crystal Palace, Antonio Valencia continued his inability to cross beyond the first man, while Moyes spent 37.1 million pounds on Juan Mata in January only to shackle him to the wings, where the Spaniard rapidly lost a confidence that is yet to properly return even now Van Gaal has selected him in the No. 10 role.

The playmaker position is perhaps the destiny of Januzaj himself. When Giggs was his age, the expectation was that he would move centrally, though few would have expected him to become the expert deep-lying centralist he later became. And in truth, Giggs never quite became a true No. 10 despite Sir Alex Ferguson's experimentations with him in the position.

It is was in such a role that Januzaj played much of his youth football but for now, it is as a winger that he must find his way. His season's start having been delayed by travelling to the World Cup, he waited to make his first start of the season at West Brom last Monday, and having taken time to grow into that fixture, he and Angel Di Maria dovetailed well as interchanging flank players against Chelsea on Sunday. Van Gaal's preference for two wingers predates winning the 1995 Champions League at Ajax with Marc Overmars and Finidi George in his side. A complementary partnership of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben at Bayern Munich reached the 2010 final.

Di Maria and Januzaj being both left-footed means that, at any point, one of them will be playing as an inverted winger -- operating on the right but cutting in on their stronger left foot. It was the Argentine, when functioning on the left channel, who eventually teased Branislav Ivanovic into the mistakes that led to the sending-off in added time, an incident from which United profited with Robin van Persie's equalising goal.

Januzaj, though, had already given Ivanovic problems, no small feat considering the right-back had this season been streaking clear of Manchester City's Pablo Zabaleta as the Premier League's prime performer in that position. A sweet interchange with Van Persie set up United's best chance of the first half, as Januzaj struck up an effective understanding with Luke Shaw, the fellow teenager whose instinct is to overlap from full-back. Januzaj himself has bulked up, developed in terms of stature and stamina. He does not have the raw pace of a young Giggs, but is already a player of considerable vision.

Di Maria's presence means that Januzaj may have to wait for the chance to become a primary left-winger, though there is little shame in that. Di Maria might well be the world's best in that position and has already marked himself out as United's top performer so far this season.

"I do not answer that," said Van Gaal when asked about Januzaj at his news conference on Friday. "It's personally." The Dutch coach always refuses to answer questions on individual players, and often does so angrily.

Instead, United's team selection at Eastlands will be a measure of the manager's faith in Januzaj and Mata in concurrence. As Wayne Rooney returns after suspension, Mata's place is threatened by his failure during the club captain's three-match absence to succeed in the position he would choose for himself, and Rooney also sees as his own. Retaining Januzaj might suit United's system better for an away match at City, as Rooney, far more effective in terms of defensive output, can then drop into midfield, from where the champions twice blew apart United last season.

Januzaj could be handed the type of responsibility that a player wearing his Manchester United shirt is expected to meet.

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