Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is happy to give several of his young players a chance in preseason action.

The Reds' manager handed starts to Ben Amos and Lee Martin in Saturday's friendly win at Aberdeen, and introduced substitutes Danny Simpson, Chris Eagles, Jonny Evans, Darron Gibson, Fraizer Campbell, Sam Hewson and Gary Woods.

At a time when Sir Alex is deciding how best to further their footballing education, he admits the pre-season calendar is a key period in their burgeoning careers.

"They're all good players," he told MUTV. "They've got good potential and some of them will go on loan, some have come back from their loan periods and will now have to push on and show that improvement that's going to get them into the first team squad."