Manchester United Starlet James Wilson Eager to Emulate Adnan Januzaj's Rise

Manchester United starlet James Wilson has his eye on emulating the feats of Adnan Januzaj and force himself into the first team after netting a stunning hat-trick for the club's under-21 ranks.

The 18-year-old struggled with injury in the early stages of 2014 but returned in emphatic fashion on Monday evening as Warren Joyce's side defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.

Wilson demonstrated all facets of his burgeoning potential with three exquisite finishes to ensure his side's 3-0 win, the pick of the bench being his opener. The teenage striker found space surrounded by three Wolves defenders on the edge of the area before rifling a left footed strike into the bottom corner before adding two clean finishes later on.

Wilson took his tally to four in four starts for Joyce's side having also netted five in six representing United in the UEFA Youth League group stages last year.

"It was well played by the players with good work rate," he told MUTV, the club's official website reports.

"We work hard every day in training and just need the performances to get goals and win games.

"The first and second goals were kind of the same. For the first one I saw the defender coming towards me and pushed it away from him, it was a snap shot really for the second and the last one I was standing still in the box and it fell to me nicely so I put it away.

"I work on my shooting quite a lot, to be fair. I train a lot after training and put in extra, even before it as well I do extra finishing."

Having seen 19-year-old Adnan Januzaj make an instant impression having stepped up from the under-21 ranks last season, Wilson is hopeful his career can follow a similar trajectory and believes trips to established stadiums like Molineux will help him in his preparation for that jump.

""As soon as you walk in here, it's a massive ground with a great history so it's good to play here," Wilson added. "It's good experience to play at these big stadiums.

"I just want to get as many minutes on the pitch as possible and keep my confidence up, hopefully pushing up to the first-team squad. I need to hope for the best.

"I can definitely relate a lot to Adnan [Januzaj] and the stage he was at last year. I hope I can kick on."