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Why This 18-year Old Will Surprise Everyone And Have A Breathtaking Season At Manchester United

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Seeing a player make his way through the various youth levels and going on to represent the first-team as an important member gives a huge lift to a club. Manchester United and Liverpool fans have experienced this situation on numerous occasions in the last two decades and United do not seem to have shortage of highly rated young talents. Picking out a player from the United youth system who could go on and become the star of the future would be extremely difficult. Even then, one player stands out from the crowd – Marcus Rashford.

The progress made by Rashford is the stuff of dreams. The 18-year-old was fast tracked into the first-team by former boss Louis van Gaal. He was so impressive straight away that it earned a call up to the Euro 2016. Over the years, there have been numerous youngsters who have featured at a very young age for the England team – the likes of Theo Walcott, Jack Rodwell, and Jack Wilshere – only to lose their way later in the career. There will certainly be fears about a similar situation affecting Rashford, but the teenager already seems to be displaying a lot of maturity.

One of the aspects that make a player – especially a striker – strong is recovering from a goal drought. When things do not happen as expected, the less mature players find themselves in danger of working too hard or too less. Rashford has remained a levelheaded figure even while going through tough times last season. Even now, he has scored only one goal – a late winner against Hull City – but he has played only 64 minutes. While the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic may feel like a hindrance, it could prove to be a blessing in disguise as the big Swede has such a good impact on the squad.

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In his first season, Rashford’s biggest criticisms were that he was trying to dribble too much without having an end product. His number of dribbles per game have almost halved since this campaign begun, which is even more impressive considering that José Mourinho has favoured using the 18-year-old on the wings. It also has resulted in a drop in the number of shots per game from 3.3 to 2.5. The impact made by Rashford has been direct and ‘in-your-face’ stuff, which demonstrates excellent attitude and a good learning curve from the player.

United may persist plenty of youngsters in the youth teams, reserve squads, and even in the first-team, but Rashford has all the ingredients to become the breakout star at Old Trafford this season.

Written by Bharath Rammr

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