Jose Mourinho promoted Manchester United Under-23 defender Joe Riley to train with the first-team on Thursday.

The 21-year-old, who made his first-team debut in 2016 in the FA Cup against Shrewsbury Town when he came on for Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, is the latest in a string of U23 players to be promoted by Mourinho.

Demetri Mitchell, RoShaun Williams, Angel Gomes, Zak Dearnley, Matthew Olosunde, Joshua Bohui and Tosin Kehinde have all trained with the first team over Christmas.

Riley has trained with the first-team before but Mourinho has yet to hand him a place in any of his matchday squads despite already making his senior debut.

However, the captain of the reserves could be an outside bet to be involved in the match-day squad as United travel to Yeovil in the fourth round of the FA Cup if Mourinho decides to rest some players ahead of the midweek trip to Spurs.

Nemanja Matic posted a picture on his Instagram page which showed Riley on the 'winning team' in training along with Romelu Lukaku, Scott McTominay, Victor Lindelof, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Joel Pereira.

Riley has been back with the U23s this season and has been a regular for Ricky Sbragia's side after his loan spell at Sheffield United was cut short last season due to a shoulder injury.

Riley's promotion could also be down to the fact that Axel Tuanzebe has joined Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the season and Mourinho will be looking for more cover at the back.

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