Norman Whiteside has admitted he does not expect Mason Greenwood to surpass him as the player with the most goals scored for Manchester United as a teenager.
The former Northern Ireland international joined United as a teenager in 1978 before breaking into the first team in 1982. He played 274 games and scored 67 goals for the Reds before departing for Everton in 1989. During his time in Manchester, he broke several longstanding records, some of which remain today.
The 56-year-old became the youngest-ever scorer in an FA Cup final in United's 4-0 replay victory over Brighton and Hove Albion when he headed home the second goal of the afternoon – a record which remains to this day. He also remains the youngest-ever player to participate at a World Cup finals after beating a longstanding record previously held by Pele by appearing for Northern Ireland aged just 17 years and 41 days.
Most significantly to Greenwood, Whiteside holds the title as the player with the most goals scored for United as a teenager with 39, two more than George Best (37) and seven more than Greenwood (32), who turns 20 next Friday.
"He would have to score eight goals in the next two games to beat me, so good luck to him if he can do that," Norman joked.
"I don't mind him scoring two hat-tricks to overtake Bestie!
"Mason has been doing brilliantly, and it's great to see another teenager coming through from the Academy and scoring lots of goals like we did."
If not for last season, where Greenwood struggled to find his best form, the 19-year-old would have indeed been on his way to breaking Whiteside's record. However, it is still an astonishing accomplishment to have featured so consistently for one of the best teams in the world as a teenager.
Thanks to discussions with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Gareth Southgate has opted to leave Greenwood out of his recent England squads, allowing him to focus on his football away from the media circus that comes with playing for the national team.
Undoubtedly, Greenwood's excellent goalscoring form will force Southgate's hand sooner rather than later. Still, while he can continue to develop under the knowledgeable eyes of Solskjaer and Cristiano Ronaldo, there is no telling the records Greenwood could smash as a United and England star.
