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12th November 2025
04:42pm GMT
Ireland booked their place in the last-32 of the U17s World Cup, qualifying as group winners after a wins against Panama and Uzbekistan, and a draw with Paraguay.
According to United in Focus, Manchester United have their eye on two Irish players.
One of them is the most recognisable name in the squad, Michael Noonan, with the Shamrock Rovers player receiving lots of hype this year after scoring on his debut at just 16 years of age, becoming the youngest scorer ever in the UEFA Conference League, and second youngest in the history of all UEFA competitions.
He is also the youngest ever scorer for the Ireland U21s, and recently won the league with his club, although could not tog out in the FAI Cup final at the weekend due to his commitments with Ireland.
After the 4-1 win over Panama, he said: “The league last week was magic, obviously, the hard work over the whole season finally paid off.
“And the Cup, there’s nothing I can really do about the Cup. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not a bad place to be, here. I’m just giving my full focus to here.
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“It was a good game, start to finish. Obviously we knew there were going to be parts of it that were going to be difficult.
“We had to deal with the weather, the opposition, but I thought we handled it well. We prepared well beforehand, had a game-plan and we stuck by it, and it got us to the end.
“I had full belief, I think the team had full belief, the staff had full belief in everyone, in everyone on the pitch, everyone on the bench coming on, we knew we had the quality. We had a game-plan, show it, and we did that.”
The Red Devils are also said to be interested in Dundalk centre-back Vinnie Leonard, but with both players 17, they would not be able to play in England until they turn 18.
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