UNITED have granted a free transfer to Floribert Ngalula, a 20-year-old Belgian midfielder once viewed as "the new Patrick Vieira".

Ngalula had been on the books at Anderlecht before moving to United but his hopes he would break into the first team had a major blow when he suffered a serious hip injury at the start of the 2005/06 season.

United have also granted free transfers to three other reserve players: defender Phil Marsh, winger Jamie Mullan, and midfielder Danny Rose who spent much of last season on loan at Oxford.

Two other reserves have not been offered professional terms and have been released. They are keeper Lee Crockett and striker Aaron Burns.