Ander Herrera reveals he’s kept the same shinpads since he was a child

Finally, for the first time in his two-and-a-half year Manchester United career, Ander Herrera appears to be a permanent fixture in the starting XI.

Criminally underused by Louis van Gaal, the Spaniard has featured regularly alongside Michael Carrick and Paul Pogba in the United midfield in recent weeks, playing his part in his side's eleven-game unbeaten run. Now, with a rejuvenated United gearing up for their final match of 2016, Herrera has given a short Q&A session to the club's in-house media team, which features on manutd.com. Having established in the interview that he's not the kind of football player that likes to switch his boots on a daily basis, Herrera is then asked about his shinpads, prompting him to explain that he's kept the same pair of shin pads since he was a child - much to the amusement of his United teammates. "I have a good story with my shinpads," he says. "I have had the same shinpads since I was eight or nine years old." "Everyone laughs in the dressing room because of them but I am superstitious with that. I like to keep playing with them until they are completely battered." With United winning their last four Premier League matches, supporters will be hopeful that the visit of Middlesbrough on New Year's Eve will yield another three points.