Diego Leon seizes rare first-team chance as United's left-back crisis deepens

Diego Leon finally got a look-in under Michael Carrick, featuring at left-back as a makeshift Manchester United side beat Lausanne-Sport 2-1 in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Friday — the 19-year-old’s first minutes under the manager after a difficult debut season at Old Trafford.

The opportunity arrived almost entirely by circumstance. Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui were away on senior international duty, while Harry Amass — currently ahead of Leon in the Under-21 pecking order — was with the England Under-20s. With many first-team regulars and top academy prospects also absent, Carrick was left to cast the net wide.

Leon arrived at United in the summer of 2025 amid genuine excitement, with Arsenal and Manchester City also having tracked him. The deal, agreed six months before his move, was worth £3.3m rising to £7m — a fee that signalled United’s belief he could eventually challenge for a first-team spot. He had already made 33 senior appearances for Club Cerro Porteño before his 18th birthday, and his pace and attacking instincts made him one of the more talked-about young defenders in South America.

His first season in Manchester, however, has been a quiet one. He made matchday squads against Manchester City, Brentford and Sunderland in the autumn, and was on the bench during the EFL Cup defeat at Grimsby, but then disappeared from first-team contention entirely. He finished the campaign with 17 Under-21 starts and two EFL Trophy appearances.

This season has been harder still. Leon has not played a single minute in three Premier League 2 fixtures, with Amass — who returned from two Championship loans last summer — starting ahead of him at Under-21 level. Amass came close to leaving on a permanent deal in the final days of the transfer window, but stayed after Burnley declined to raise their £3.5m offer.

Leon was also named in Paraguay’s provisional squad for this summer’s World Cup before missing the final 26-man selection — an omission that reflected his limited game time at club level.

Friday’s friendly offered a rare window, and with United’s left-back options stretched thin across the senior and development squads, the Paraguayan took it. Whether it translates into anything more sustained remains to be seen.