JAMIE REDKNAPP: Manchester United tell me Mason Greenwood is the best youngster they've ever seen... and the 18-year-old wonderkid is in safe hands
* Mason Greenwood has had a stellar debut season for Manchester United
* Nicky Butt said that Greenwood is the best youngster the club has ever seen
* Greenwood reminds me of Michael Owen when he first broke onto the scene
* With the talent Manchester United have produced - Greenwood is in safe hands
Manchester United's old youth coach Eric Harrison was a great educator. He was the man whose tough love made the Class of ’92 what they were.
They became household names on his watch but also, as Sir Alex Ferguson said at Harrison’s funeral last year, ‘good human beings’.
Nicky Butt was one of those who benefited from working with Harrison and now he’s the club’s head of first-team development.
I asked Butt a while back whether United had any kids I should keep an eye out for. He named Mason Greenwood. ‘One of the best we’ve ever seen,’ Butt told me.
Now we’re seeing why there was such excitement. United are a club who treat young players properly. They pride themselves on it.
That’s why we can be sure Greenwood is in good hands. They will be in his ear keeping him grounded.
I remember seeing Michael Owen break through, too. In fact I was on the pitch the day he made his Liverpool debut against Wimbledon and became the club’s youngest scorer at 17 years and 144 days.
That was in May 1997 but we’d heard long before that about this boy from the academy who was coming through the ranks.
Mason Greenwood has been described as the best youngster Manchester United has seen. Greenwood is in safe hands at Manchester United, who will keep the 18-year-old grounded. Greenwood says he is left-footed but he appears to be comfortable with his right too
That’s what happens at clubs when they have a special talent on their hands: rumours go around. The only question is whether they can handle the step up. Owen did, and Greenwood is doing so, too.
With Owen, defenders would try to show him on to his left foot because they knew it was his weaker side. Keep the ball away from his right foot and maybe he won’t score.
But Greenwood doesn’t seem to have a weak side. Left foot, right foot, it doesn’t matter.
He likes a stepover but he doesn’t use them for the sake of looking flash. He uses them to unbalance defenders and gain half a yard because that’s all he
Greenwood is being used on the right wing by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at present but with his size and skillset, I see him as a future No 9.
That position belongs to Anthony Martial at the moment but there is plenty of time for Greenwood to make it his own.
Owen always had a good support system around him, from his family and those at the club. He was a sensible lad — he didn’t let anything distract him from football.
Greenwood is at the perfect club for his development, too. They will have people ensuring he is kept on the right track, just as the Class of ’92 were guided so expertly.
At 18 years old, Greenwood can go far, as long as he listens to those around him. Continue at this rate and he will walk into my Team of the Season next year.
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