Tosic has stage to shine

Zoran Tosic is desperate to shine at next week’s European Under-21 Championships so he can ‘prove’ he is a Manchester United player.

The 22-year-old has made just three substitute appearances for the first team since his arrival from Partizan at the start of the year, but he has put in sparkling displays for the reserves.

The pacy winger, who was involved in the Serbia Under-21 side in the finals in 2007, is relishing the chance to shine on the big stage in Sweden this time around.

"I can't wait for it to start," he told uefa.com. "It will be a very good experience to play in the championship again and I'm very happy because of that."

"The championship is very good experience for every young player. I have to practice, to get stronger, to get faster, to be better in all aspects and I feel the U21 championship will help me and I can prove I'm a United player."

Tosic, who is a full international, came on as a substitute in the 2007 final and impressed playing out of position at left-back, setting up Serbia's only goal with a typically marauding run in their 4-1 defeat by Holland.

That helped the diminutive wideman seal a move from little-known Serbian side FK Banat Zrenjanin to Partizan before Sir Alex was made aware of his talents and snapped him up at Old Trafford.

Tosic is highly thought of at Carrington and it is hoped he can push himself into the first-team reckoning next season and he's certainly one to keep an eye on at the under-21 tournament this month.

Serbia kick-off their campaign against favourites Italy before tackling Belarus and Sweden and with five senior internationals in their squad they look more than capable of going one better than they did two years ago.