Young tips Rashford to reach top
ASHLEY YOUNG predicts “a massive future” for Marcus Rashford with both club and country.
Rashford, 19, gatecrashed England’s Euro 2016 squad just three months after bursting into the Manchester United first team last year, but initially struggled to replicate that sensational start this season.
He has returned to form in recent weeks and his goalscoring display in the 2-0 win over leaders Chelsea on Sunday justified manager Jose Mourinho’s gamble to leave top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 35, on the bench and play Rashford as his main striker.
He and Jesse Lingard gave Chelsea’s defence one of their most difficult games of the season and impressed Young, United’s skipper for the day.
“I have said it all along that when he was coming through the youth team and the reserves you could see there was something special about Marcus,” said Young.
“He plays the game with hunger – it comes naturally to him. When he does things quickly I don’t think there are many defenders who can live with him.
“He was fantastic – we needed the outlet. When he can get in behind, he is a threat. He has a massive future, not only for Manchester United but for England as well.”
United had far more pace and mobility on Sunday and Mourinho has to decide whether to recall Ibrahimovic, who has 28 goals in all competitions to Rashford’s nine, or keep faith with the youngster for the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Anderlecht on Thursday.
Young said Mourinho’s tactics to nullify Chelsea worked to perfection.
“Not a lot of people expected that scoreline or the type of game we played,” he said, “but we did. We have belief in ourselves.
“We didn’t have much time to work on the game plan but every man was fantastic, from start to finish. We all had our jobs to fight off the threats of Chelsea and it worked to a T.
“Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian had tough opponents but they kept them quiet. And Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo kept Diego Costa quiet.
“We knew if we could score an early goal we would give ourselves a great platform. We fully deserved the three points.”