Louis van Gaal surprised just about every Manchester United fan by including a 17-year-old defender in his squad

Manchester United have a proud tradition, stretching back over four decades, of having at least one academy graduate in their match-day squads.

They kept that up at Crystal Palace, this afternoon, by including Andreas Pereira, Jesse Lingard and 17-year-old defender Axel Tuanzebe. Tuanzebe's appearance on the bench comes after injuries to the likes of Paddy McNair and Antonion Valencia, and with Tyler Blackett [loan to Celtic] and Jonny Evans shipped out. https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/660457829946564609 Tuanzebe's inclusion sparked some frantic searches of Google and 'Who's that guy?' questions on Twitter. https://twitter.com/UtdDi/status/660451547218751488 https://twitter.com/doclewisville/status/660451600528461824 https://twitter.com/MatchoftheDave/status/660457826246987776 For the teenager's part, he captained the United U18 side last year and won that side's Player of the Year accolade. He has dual British and DR Congo nationality. Interviewed recently about his rise within the Red Devils, Tuanzebe comments, "As the [U18] season continued, we just grew together as a team. I respected them and they respected me. It developed me as a person and now I feel more of a leader. "I believe, one day, I can be a leader for this club. It would be my dream." Here are some of the teenager's highlights from last season. https://youtu.be/akPgHzDXcCo