Teenage sensation Mason Greenwood has the world at his feet

Greenwood has become the highest-scoring teenager for Manchester United, surpassing Wayne Rooney’s record.

Mason Greenwood in a file photo; Credit: Mason Greenwood Twitter
By Karthik Raman | May 13, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

It is hard to believe that Mason Greenwood is only 19 years of age, considering the number of matches he has played for Manchester United already. He has donned the red jersey 63 times in all competitions for Red Devils and has found the back of the net on 29 occasions. It is not only about his strikes, but the maturity he shows in front of the goal is not that of a teenager. The English striker looks way ahead of his age when he gets the ball at his feet. The composure he shows in tight situations or the tricky feet he possesses in a crowded penalty box makes him hard to play against.

The last time Manchester United had such a buzz surrounding a teenager was when Wayne Rooney joined from Everton. He set the ball rolling from word go and scored goals aplenty. As a teenager, Rooney found the back of the net 15 times – a record which was only broken last weekend by another teenage sensation in Greenwood. After receiving Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s pass, Greenwood turned away from Tyrone Mings and found the bottom corner from just inside the box on Sunday in the Premier League.

That goal took him above Rooney’s tally and he scored one more on Tuesday night against Leicester City. When he received the ball from Amad Diallo, Leicester’s defenders were properly in place. But Greenwood cleverly sidestepped a defender and produced a peach of a finish with his so-called weaker right foot to equalise on the night for United.

After the Leicester defeat, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was particularly happy about Greenwood taking responsibility for himself. “You saw some definite leadership, the way he had to take responsibility. He’s got Amad and Anthony (Elanga) next to him, looks at them and thinks I’ve got 100 games here so I need to help them, which is great,” Ole said.

A true two-footer

He is one of the few two-footers of the game in world football right now. The boy can go either way. He has good feet and a great finish. All he needs now is to get better with his hold-up play and improve his heading ability, then Greenwood can be Manchester United’s first-choice forward for the next decade or more.

Making his senior debut in 2019, Greenwood became the second-youngest player to represent the club in a European competition at the age of 17 years and 156 days. He was only behind Norman Whiteside. Now the teenager is eager to make sure no one breaks his record.

Speaking after the Aston Villa victory, Greenwood said, “I finished it well, I’m happy with my goal today. Hopefully, there are many more to come. I’ll try and keep scoring goals so no one else can come and break the record in the future! I’m happy scoring goals.”

And Manchester United fans will be more than happy to see him continue his goal-scoring streak. Playing for a club that is known for nurturing world-class players from their teenage like Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, Marcus Rashford, and Rooney among the others, what Greenwood has managed to achieve at such a young age only shows about the player’s ability. He most definitely can become the next big thing at Old Trafford.





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