Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has heaped praise on new signing Daniel James after their match against AC Milan claiming he decided on his own to take the club’s winning penalty in the match. James scored the winning penalty against AC Milan in Cardiff in their final pre-season fixture.

Solskjaer’s men drew 2-2 with Milan after 90 minutes of play at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff and competition rules stipulated a winner had to be decided by a penalty shootout. With the score deadlocked at 4-4, David de Gea repelled Daniel Maldini’s effort to leave United with a chance to win the game 5-4.

Although both teams were allowed a brief period to decide on their penalty takers, Solskjaer suggested he had not put James down as the fifth taker but he opted to be and praise him for making that decision.

“Dan is ready to go, he’s had a great pre-season,” Solskjaer told post-match press conference. “He’s fit straight into the group, both as a player on the pitch, in the team, and as a person and personality in the group, he’s been a joy to work with. “I didn’t give him the last one, I think he wanted it, which is always a good sign!”

The Red Devils paid a sum of £15million rising to £18m to Swansea City for the Wales international and Solskjaer is pleased with the winger’s growth throughout the pre-season.

“I think we at Man United want our players to [be exciting] and the other side of it is when you’re a defender you don’t really want him running at you with the ball,” Solskjaer added. “So we have to catch up with him when he crosses that ball because we need to get into the box more often. “Money? He cost what he cost. But I’m confident he’s going to be good for us.”