JAAP Stam will tell his Reading FC players to seize the opportunity to showcase their talents to a global audience in Saturday’s FA Cup third-round clash at Old Trafford (12.30pm ko, live BT Sport).

Stam will be trying to knock his former club Manchester United out of the competition, having won it as a player as part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s iconic treble-winning squad of 1999.

And while Stam is the first to acknowledge his Royals side will be major underdogs for this weekend’s televised tie, he also knows it is chance for his players to shine.

The 44-year-old Dutchman said: “I’ve been back before of course after I stopped playing for different reasons.

“But now to play in the FA Cup with Reading in front of the 80,000 fans that they get every home game will be very exciting.

“There are a lot of teams still in the draw, so you don’t expect United to come out, especially at Old Trafford.

“But it’s nice, you want to play against the biggest teams because a lot of players want to play in the Premier League and show themselves and what they can do to the world. Now they have their chance.”

While Stam will relish the test against his former employers, the Royals have never won at Old Trafford.

They have held the Red Devils there on two occasions after a 0-0 Premier League draw in August 2007, despite Dave Kitson being sent off just moments after coming onto the pitch.

They also drew 1-1 in in the FA Cup fifth round in February, 2007 thanks to a Brynjar Gunnarsson goal, but lost the replay 3-2 at Madejski Stadium.

However, with United manager Jose Mourinho likely to rest some of his biggest stars including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Royals will fancy their chances.

“It’ll be interesting to see who United play, you don’t know whether they’ll play a first XI,” added Stam.

“But the whole squad has a lot of quality. They are a great side with a great manager, so it’s going to be interesting to play at Old Trafford and to see what we can do.”

Reading sold their entire 5,446 allocation in no time after the club subsidised ticket prices to keep them below £30.

And Royals fans will be hoping their team can continue their excellent recent form in the FA Cup.

Last season under Brian McDermott, Royals made it to the quarter-finals before crashing out against former boss Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace.

The year before that they went even better when Steve Clarke’s side were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Arsenal in extra time in the semi-final at Wembley.

And Stam wants his team to play with no fear when they face Mourinho’s men this weekend.

“It’s great to play in this competition, anything can happen in cup football, that makes it interesting,” he continued.

“There’s always a different atmosphere at United, it’s always a sell-out and that gives you a boost as a player. It’s something to look forward to.

“To be honest, we’ve got nothing to lose. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to go out there and enjoy it and let them score a couple of goals.

“It means we’ll be playing against a very good side and we’ll be giving it our best shot.

“We’ll be working very hard to get a result. If we lose, we lose, but we’re going to try and get the result over there.”

Manchester United signing Tyler Blackett is likely to be in the Reading squad on Saturday, but Callum Harriott is sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Deniss Rakels (ankle), Stephen Quinn (knee) and Anssi Jaakkola (knee) are still out.