Marcus Rashford said he received a reality check from Louis van Gaal after just his 10th Manchester United appearance.
Rashford burst onto the scene with four goals in his first two appearances in February 2016 and netted a Manchester derby winner in just his eighth career game.
However, United's 3-0 reverse at Tottenham in April proved to be a galling experience for Rashford, who was substituted at half-time with the game goalless and replaced by Ashley Young. Rashford remains indebted to Van Gaal and, in a BT Sport feature, told Robin van Persie just how influential the former Ajax manager was in the early stages of his senior career.
"The time with Louis was very good for me," Rashford said. "And Giggsy as well, he helped me a lot. Because that transition [from the reserves to the first-team] can be hard because I hadn't played much reserve football. I was on the bench for the first-team before I'd even started for the reserves.
"Van Gaal was top. At the time I was getting a lot of praise and attention from everywhere outside, but the biggest thing for me were his (Van Gaal's) words. That was what was making me smile every day. To be part of Man United's first team.
"There were some games when it was difficult... I remember a game - Tottenham away - when he took me off at half-time. The next day we spoke honestly. I was still smiling.
"The way he dealt with the situation, because I know I didn't play a good game, the team didn't play a good game, the coach was late, we had 20 minutes to warm-up, then they score three goals. It was unbelievable. That was the game, Tottenham away [when I realised I was in a man's world].
"Sometimes we are our biggest nightmare. We want everything too fast. Because we won the FA Cup with Van Gaal I had it in my mind that we were going to win everything. So you're going into the season with expectations and you get a reality check."
Reflecting on his time as a youngster coming up in United's academy, Rashford revealed he idolised Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, talismen in Ferguson's last great side.
"From United it was Wazza and Cristiano," Rashford told Van Persie. "We used to go to every home game and every now and then we'd get to watch them train.
"I was probably more tuned into watching them than I was to other teams. I was a massive United fan so even after United games I would go back and we'd watch more United games on YouTube. I didn't really watch other teams.
"I'd have other players like Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Messi, that I'd like to watch and analyse their games but as a team I'd always watch United."
