Manchester United have been on fire over the last few weeks. The Red Devils recently extended their undefeated streak to 10 games (W7, D3) following Sunday’s win over Manchester City at Old Trafford. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men are trending in the right direction in the final stretch run of the season.
The play of names such as Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay and January signing Bruno Fernandes has been key for the team’s successes of late. However, one name that often goes unnoticed is the one of Mason Greenwood. The exticing prospect has looked excellent all season long despite the fact he’s been tasked with fulfilling a role bigger than the one he was anticipated to embrace before the season started.
If we look at his progress as a senior player, then everything stands out even more. Some fans might forget about this, but Greenwood debuted for Manchester United exactly one year ago. He came off the bench in 6 March 2019, playing in the UEFA Champions League at Paris Saint-Germain. Greenwood became the club’s youngest player to debut in Europe’s biggest club competition.
That’s not everything, though. Greenwood has registered 11 goals and two assists in 35 games across all competitions, including 16 starts. That’s a heavy number of minutes for a player who’s going through his first professional campaign. But the number gets better if we consider Greenwood has averaged roughly 150 minutes per goal. That basically translates to one goal every two matches.
His minutes will likely decrease as the season progresses, though. After all, the presence of Anthony Martial, the arrival of Odion Ighalo and the potential recovery of Marcus Rashford should deservedly list Greenwood as Manchester United’s fourth striker moving forward. However, we mustn’t forget he’s only 18 years old. He won’t turn 19 until the beginning of the 2020-21 season.
Right now, though, the coaching staff trusts on what he’s been doing. Perhaps Solskjaer said it best when analyzing his potential after Greenwood scored against Watford last month, in what was his most recent goal. “He is just going to be better and better. In a couple of years’ time, he will be more or less the complete number nine.”
That’s a hefty praise coming from a former striker in Solskjaer. But it also speaks volumes of the kind of player Rashford will be. And if we judge him for what he’s done so far, then we shouldn’t hesitate to believe he has everything on his side to become one of the best strikers in the world sooner than later.
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