In his weekly blog, Juan Mata has hailed Marcus Rashford as a great player in the making after the young striker scored the winning goal for Manchester United against Manchester City.
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With five goals in his first eight games for the club, the Manchester-born Rashford has become a regular in Louis van Gaal’s starting eleven and is expected to remain there until the end of the season.
The victory left United just a point below City, who now sit in the final Champions League place in fourth – United had entered the game having failed to win any of their four previous matches and just four of their previous 10 in the Premier League.
And last weekend, he scored the victor in the derby against Man City, resulting in Lingard explaining that he is doing his best to keep Rashford calm and humble.
“He was buzzing, but I was keeping him grounded”, joked Lingard. But I have just told him not to over-hype things because he has done well and everybody is really happy for him.
And Lingard also said he has no worries about Rashford’s sudden rise to stardom going to his head, reports the M.E.N. He doesn’t go out and doesn’t drink.
The difference between a young prospect like James Wilson, who can score goals and gets himself into decent positions, is that Rashford does things that make you sit on the edge of the seat – or, as it did to me in this case, stand up and make loud noises.
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Rashford has burst onto the scene and rightfully earned plenty of plaudits, but the real test to determine as to whether he is “a great player” may not even come until next season. You have to get your rest and have your recovery time. “He will enjoy it as well but will do it at the right time”. “We have game-plans for set teams and, when we stick to them, we usually win”.
