Timothy Fosu-Mensah won’t be allowed to play for Manchester United at Anfield

Manchester United cannot afford to have any fit players sitting in the stands.

Louis van Gaal has been impressed with Timothy Fosu-Mensah's introduction to the senior side. The Dutch teenager made his debut in the 3-2 home win over Arsenal, late last month, and has since played against Watford [starting centre back] and West Brom [off the bench]. Going into a crucial stretch of cup games, Van Gaal will not be able to call on the 18-year-old for either of the Europa League ties with Liverpool, starting at Anfield tonight. Fosu-Mensah is fully fit, and has yet to feature in Europe this season. Hence, he is neither cup-tied or suspended. The red-tape holding up the academy star's European bow is the fact that he is not considered home-grown. Van Gaal named a 31-man Europa League A-list squad earlier this year. That list includes the likes of Donald Love, Will Keane, Paddy McNair and Regan Poole. Fosu-Menshaw was signed from Ajax in 2014 so has not been with the United youth set-up long enough to be considered home-grown. Players must be in a club's youth system for at least three years to be awarded that status. Van Gaal could include any home-grown academy player he liked, with dispensation from Uefa, but Fosu-Mensah is still considered an import. As it stands, he sits out the two-legged Europa affair but will hope to be in the squad for this weekend's FA Cup tie with West Ham.