Rashford, our most exciting youth product since Ryan Giggs?

[Sassy Colin]

I can't really remember anyone who has burst onto the scene in quite the way Rashford has, since Giggs. I doubt I have seen such cool, natural finisher at the club, give him a shot at goal & he just bangs it in.

I really hope this guy makes it.

 

[Kag]

Probably, yes.

 

[Shark]

I definitely think so. His fearlessness is a huge asset, but a lot of teenagers that burst onto the scene share that trait. The next few years will be more telling, but what a start he's had. Bags of talent.

 

[Nicklas]

I'd say O'Shea has been the one to impress me the most as a youngster playing for the first team. Otherwise, Ravel Morrison was the biggest talent I've seen play for us at youth level. He just oozed so much class and was always a level above everybody else on the pitch, and this was with a team that included Pogba.

 

[Tiber]

Pogba comes to mind.

He should certainly near the top of everyones list though

 

[Jev]

Let's not forget how we were raving about Januzaj two years ago. I'm excited by Rashford but it hasn't yet gotten to the point where I feel absolutely convinced he'll go on to become a star, or even a regular, for us, like I am with Martial for instance.

 

[FromTheBench]

Depends on the terms being set here.

But its probably a big stretch to say best after Giggs. Some big names after that even.

 

[Bocca9978]

Too early to decide for me, but what a start

 

[Sky1981]

Too early. Macheda?

 

[BAMSOLA]

Do Scholes and Beckham not count in this?

I have to say I was more excited about them.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I'd say O'Shea has been the one to impress me the most as a youngster playing for the first team. Otherwise, Ravel Morrison was the biggest talent I've seen play for us at youth level. He just oozed so much class and was always a level above everybody else on the pitch, and this was with a team that included Pogba.

O'Shea? Seriously?

And as far as Morrison is concerned, whilst he shone in the youth team, he was anonymous when ever I saw him play in the seniors and proved that he did not have the temperament.

Rashford has been anything but anonymous and has shown no signs of nervousness on the big stage.

 

[jojose]

Let's not forget how we were raving about Januzaj two years ago. I'm excited by Rashford but it hasn't yet gotten to the point where I feel absolutely convinced he'll go on to become a star, or even a regular, for us, like I am with Martial for instance.

Id agree with this.

It has been a great start by the lad. That can't be denied.

However, I do think it has been blown up a little because 1.) He's English and 2.) Our season otherwise was so disappointing.

There's only a 18 months - 2 years between Rashford and Martial?? Personally I think Martial is a country mile a better player. Fosu-Mensah is also incredibly exciting prospect.

In terms of local lad coming through (without being bought in) then yeah, Rashford has had the best start to his career since giggsy.

Obviously discounting the rest of the class of 92 that all came along a few years later than giggsy???

 

[Sassy Colin]

Do Scholes and Beckham not count in this, I have to say I was more excited about them.

I thought Scholes only really matured when he got into his 20s? Undecided about Beckham though.

When Giggs first arrived, you can not believe the stir he caused, he was the best thing to happen to United since George Best, there was that famous film mockup, where they had Giggs playing with Best on the same pitch. People raved about him when he was 17/18.

 

[ADJUDICATOR]

Most exciting in terms of the hype they came with was probably Januzaj. Heard many a tale about how he destroyed development football at every level and was the complete attacker. He came in and had a good debut season. Felt he was doing too much kick and running, not enough through passes and his finishing was a bit naff.

In terms of impact in the first team then yes, Rashford.

 

[bonsaiboy]

The test for Rashford will be how he copes with adversity. Whether that means injury, being left out of the first team, or hitting a patch of poor form. The same goes for any player; the truly great ones are those who have the mentality to recover and improve.

 

[villain]

Pogba comes to mind.

He should certainly near the top of everyones list though

Pogba wasn't 'ours' though since we poached him from France when he was 16.

It's different to having an academy product who's been through the ranks from a very young age, like Welbeck, Rashford, Lingard etc.

 

[Samid]

Too early. Macheda?

One wondergoal and a lucky deflection? What else did he do? Did he even start a single league game? Rashford has already made 18 consecutive starts since his debut. Scored twice on his club debut, twice on league debut vs rivals, scored the winner in the derby, scored a top goal in the cup replay, scored on his England debut. Rashford has already achieved ten times more than what Macheda ever did.

 

[ravelston]

If the OP means leaping out of nowhere (relatively), then the answer has to be yes. Macheda would have been the closest, but he stopped being exciting very quickly. Other than him, SAF simply didn't allow it to happen during his time in charge. Other than Giggs (who was in the first team before '92 anyway), the rest of the class of '92 were kept hanging around in the wings until 94/95 before getting their chances. Evans and O'Shea (and Cleverley) did a lifetime of loans before being judged capable. I suppose you could say Januzaj, but the reality is that he was/is nothing like as good as the Caf hyped him up to be. Perhaps Pogba could have been if his cameos had been a little more impressive - instead they made it clear that he wasn't quite ready. That leaves Rashford.

 

[Sassy Colin]

The test for Rashford will be how he copes with adversity. Whether that means injury, being left out of the first team, or hitting a patch of poor form. The same goes for any player; the truly great ones are those who have the mentality to recover and improve.

Nothing seems to have fazed him so far,not an unexpected debut, not leading the line against Arse, not Europe, not the FA Cup Final, not his England debut. Cool as a cucumber.

 

[captain666]

I think Rashford has already shown a level head with the first team and we should have high hopes of his exciting development over the seasons to come.Even Jose will appreciate his talent!

 

[Nicklas]

O'Shea? Seriously?

And as far as Morrison is concerned, whilst he shone in the youth team, he was anonymous when ever I saw him play in the seniors and proved that he did not have the temperament.

Rashford has been anything but anonymous and has shown no signs of nervousness on the big stage.

Yeah, O'Shea was brilliant in his first year with the first team and more so than anyone else I've seen in their first year as a youth product - he was dead on to become a vital part of our back 4!

Yeah, that was what I said about Morrison as well. At youth level he was the absolutely best I've seen (but I've only followed our youth set up closely for 15 years), unfortunately he wasn't mentally there to take the step up.

 

[harms]

To be fair I liked TFM debut better and I still think that he has more chances to become one of our key players in the future. I hope that Rashford proves me wrong though

 

[BAMSOLA]

I thought Scholes only really matured when he got into his 20s? Undecided about Beckham though.

When Giggs first arrived, you can not believe the stir he caused, he was the best thing to happen to United since George Best, there was that famous film mockup, where they had Giggs playing with Best on the same pitch. People raved about him when he was 17/18.

I don't think its just age for me that determines how excited I am about a youth product so much as how complete the player is.

Rashford looks a very good young prospect, however despite being 22/23 when they real begun to shine I have to say speaking strictly in terms of "youth team products" and when they first came to prominence, I was more excited about both Scholes and Beckham.

There are still things that Marcus has to prove such as he overall hold up play and footballing intelligence (not just movement off the ball which is his real strength in terms of intelligence but how he brings other into play which has looked good so far but not exceptional) but in fairness to him he hasn't had enough time as yet to show us his full abilities in a faltering team.

Hopefully we get to see more of him next season so that I can make a full judgment however so far I don't quite know whether he is the real deal, I could tell Scholes and Beckham were after their coming of age season (94/95) for Marcus I feel he needs a little more time.

PS: Also for some reason I'm actually more excited about CBJ who I think looks the real deal but has it all to do as he plays in the same position as Luke Shaw.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

I was quite excited about Januzaj, probably more than Rashford. May both break out soon.

 

[BAMSOLA]

I was quite excited about Januzaj, probably more than Rashford. May both break out soon.

I'd have to go with this too, in fact I'm still more excited about him than Marcus (this isn't a slight on Marcus I simply haven't seen quite enough to get me salivating) but i wish he'd had two seasons under SAF as I feel he's been misused and poorly advised since Moyes left.

I hope Mourinho sees him as a project to prove that he can be about youth development as I still see him as one of the best youth prospects in world football, I just think he needs a manger to really dictate to him what is expected and show him what he can be, remarkably Moyes did a very good job with him I hope Jose follows suit.

 

[dichinero]

Adnan for me

 

[Russell_eire]

While I have been pretty damn excited about Rashford, I was equally excited about Scholes, Butt, Beckham, Neville, Wes Brown, O'Shea, Spector (let's not even go there), Welbeck, Drinkwater and many more. The Official Manchester United magazine was very good at stirring up excitement about various youth players, I have to admit to getting caught up at times, but all of the names above looked very exciting when they broke through, e.g. the 4-0 against Galatasaray and O'Shea vs West Ham stand out in my mind in particular.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I remember when Luke Chadwick arrived, it caused quite a stir. He even got into a 100 greatest United players book at 100, after his break out season.

Never quite worked out what went wrong. He was brought on as a sub, then subbed off later and never was seen again. Something going on there we don't know about.

 

[Sassy Colin]

Adnan hasn't got the temperament, I doubt he'll ever make it. Rashford clearly does.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Januzaj is still the most talented player since Pogba but as we all know its only one part talent the rest is attitude. Make or break year for Januzaj next season

 

[TheGame]

Adnan for me.

 

[#07]

It really depends on the criteria you are using, but there is some merit in asking this question.

Besides Giggs, initially I wasn't that impressed by most of the class of '92. My overriding feeling going into 1995/96 was fear. We'd sold Ince, Hughes and Kanchelskis and replaced them with kids, kids who lost 3-1 to Villa on the first day of the season. My abiding memory of that season was that, while the kids were pretty good, they weren't unbelievably good. To me, Gary Neville was the best of them by far, and I was chuffed when we bought Karel Poborsky after that chip he scored at Old Trafford. I thought he'd be our new right winger, it never once occurred to me that Beckham might become what he did.

Rashford may stand out more because, as a whole, we are operating at a lower level. In 1995/96 Cantona was the star attraction, Keane was coming into his own and Big Pete was still proving to be a wall in tight matches. When Rashford broke into our team our desperation levels were higher, we had no figures like Cantona, Keano and Schmeikes to look to, so maybe that he stood out more? Still, for a kid to be winning Manchester derbies and scoring three minutes into his England début. A pretty electric start. I could get on board with this.

PS) Adnan was a surprising bonus in a terrible, terrible season but I don't think his impact has been what Rashford's has.

 

[Varun]

Janujaz for me too in recent years.

 

[Ainu]

To be fair I liked TFM debut better and I still think that he has more chances to become one of our key players in the future. I hope that Rashford proves me wrong though

You liked TFM's debut better than Rashford who scored 2 goals in 12 minutes on his debut and looked very assured in a European game at a moment we were staring at elimination from the competition? This is not a slight at TFM but Rashford's debut was the stuff of dreams.

 

[Laphroaig]

Ravel's the most exciting youth product since Giggs, but he never broke through like Rashford, so yes, he might be the most exciting since Giggs to burst into the scene. Him or Wes Brown.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I don't get the Adnan love in, apart from one game. he's done nothing. He was no good on loan and his cameos have been awful. Maybe it's one of those "The less he plays, the better he becomes" things.

 

[Sassy Colin]

It's Ravel.

It isn't, when he got his chance in the 1st team, he was like a rabbit in the headlights.

As has already been stated every chance Rashford has had, he has stepped up to the challenge. Hes a cut above, quite clearly.

 

[Woodzy]

I do think we discredit Welbeck sometimes as far as excitement goes. He may not have reached the levels we expected him to, but he was certainly exciting when he was coming through. In fact we adored him, much like Rashford now. Difference is that Rashford is actually scoring goals.

 

[khoazany]

Depends on your criteria.I was/am more excited about Januzaj,TFM and some other players that haven't made their debuts yet.

 

[rooneyaldo]

I do think we discredit Welbeck sometimes as far as excitement goes. He may not have reached the levels we expected him to, but he was certainly exciting when he was coming through. In fact we adored him, much like Rashford now. Difference is that Rashford is actually scoring goals.

and not slipping or tripping over at every oppurtunity.