In a turbulent start to the season, Mason Greenwood has been a breath of fresh air.
Over the years, Manchester United have produced an illustrious list of outstanding academy graduates, from Paul Scholes to David Beckham to the Neville brothers and Ryan Giggs. Greenwood appears to be the next name to emerge from the homegrown conveyor belt of talent.
After Greenwood’s eye-catching displays in the academy ranks, there was whispers that United may have their next goalscoring hero and the youngster has made an electric start to his career at Old Trafford.
His breakthrough is reminiscent to that of Marcus Rashford’s in 2016, who burst onto the scene under Louis van Gaal, scoring two goals on his debut in the Europa League at home.
Rashford, who was just 18, lit up the Theatre of Dreams with a sparkling performance, as United dispatched FC Midtjylland 5-1 and freakishly, after the game, it was brought to light that Rashford was in fact older than FC Midtjylland.
Rashford was born in October 1997 – which was 16 months before FC Midtjylland were formed in February 1999, which illustrated how remarkable the youngster's debut was.
Three years on and United are in a similar position, and last night they comfortably beat Partizan Belgrade 3-0, with Greenwood opening the scoring.
After receiving the ball in the Belgrade area, the youngster sprung into life, rolling the ball onto his left foot, deceiving the goalkeeper, and smashing it into the right-hand side bottom corner.
The goal was a throwback to Robin van Persie’s exploits at United and after the game, Paul Scholes drew further comparisons between Greenwood and the Dutchman.
While Van Persie made an instant impact at United, guiding them to their 20th Premier League title, Greenwood has also been delivering impressive performances himself, upon his recent regular inclusion in the first team.
And like Rashford before him, Greenwood’s empathic display meant he set a record himself, with the forward becoming the youngest player to score and assist in a European game for Manchester United – aged 18 years and 37 days.
The prospect of having Greenwood leading United’s attack for the years to come is simply mouth-watering however, while the youngster is fast, comfortable with using both feet and most important a clinical finisher, he is still raw and an unpolished talent.
It’s clear to see Greenwood has bags of potential and if his development continues under Solskjaer, he could finally become the prolific striker that United have desperately craved since Van Persie’s departure.
