Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford became the second youngest player to reach 100 Premier League games for the club over the weekend, and he celebrated the landmark achievement by scoring the only goal during Sunday’s hard-fought win over Leicester City.
As a result, the 21-year-old took his tally for the season to eight league goals and six assists in 21 appearances, and Premier League legend Alan Shearer believes he is going to be a sensation in few years’ time should he keep improving at this rate.
“I’m a big fan of this guy, I think in two or four years he’s could be a sensation, I’ve that hope for him because I think he can offer a bit of everything,” Shearer told Premierleague.com.
“If you want him to come short and take a turn and run at people, he can do that. Or if you want him going the other way, he can do that also. Trickery, pace, touch, I think it’s all there and it is getting better and better. I go back to the point that we keep on making now, he is now not afraid to make mistakes. Now, one error is not going to get him out of this team, which was always his fear I think under Mourinho. He was scared.
“I think he felt that if he didn’t do something instantly then he was going to be out of the team and that Romelu Lukaku was Mourinho’s guy. He now feels that he is the guy, he is in charge of that position. That is massive for him. We saw it in an England shirt, he felt more involved for England than he did in a Manchester United shirt. But that has all changed now because he has lost that worry of if he makes a mistake he is out of the team.”
Caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made Rashford his first-choice striker since arriving, with Lukaku playing as backup.
It remains to be seen if the Norwegian can convince the board with his performance and land the job on a permanent basis, but Rashford’s role going forward will most likely be determined by who is in charge next season.
While he’s proving to be in inspired form all over again, a new manager could decide to stick with Lukaku instead or bring in another striker entirely.
It will be interesting to see how things play out next season, but the English striker has what it takes to reach the level of the likes of Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, and it will be up to the next permanent manager to bring out the best in him.
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