Louis Van Gaal
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal is known give opportunities to young players.Reuters

Stevanage FC defender Ryan Johnson will reportedly be joining Manchester United on trial ahead of his probable move to Old Trafford.

The 18-year-old, who was discovered by United's scouts following his impressive performances for the League Two side, is expected to spend a week at Carrington training complex, where his performances will be evaluated by the Red Devils coaches.

If he manages to impress in the try-outs, he will be offered a professional contract at Old Trafford, according to the Daily Mail.

Although United have been linked to a number of defenders including Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels, Aston Villa's Ron Vlaar and Real Madrid's Raphael Varane, they may very well end up signing Johnson as manager Louis van Gaal is known to give opportunities to young players.

Johnson, who is a product of West Bromwich Albion academy, found a lot of success after moving to Stevanage in 2013 as he became the club's youngest player to break into the first team at the age of 17.

Meanwhile, Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia feels that the Red Devils have to work harder now that they have climbed to the top four of the Premier League.

After a very poor start to the 2014/15 campaign, United have finally starting playing well, having recorded only a single defeat in their last 13 Premier League fixtures.

This has resulted in them moving to the fourth place in the Premier League, but Valencia insists that the Red Devils need to work even harder to maintain their position and qualify for the next season's Champions League.

"It's very open and quite tight in those top spots," Valencia told MUTV. "We're seven points behind second place and then a couple of teams are three or four points below us."

"We must fight hard in the remaining games to finish as high as possible. It's a long season and we've picked ourselves up of late, so we need to keep the results coming for the fans."

"We've got tough games coming up against very good teams and rivals for our position but, if we keep the concentration high, we can achieve our aim of a top-four finish."