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Opinion: Young Man United striker the real deal, deserves more game-time

The latest talent to come out of Manchester United’s youth academy is Mason Greenwood, who has turned quite a few heads this season with extremely impressive performances at the age of just 18.

The exciting striker has been touted as the next big thing by Reed Devils fans for a while now and calls for a promotion into the senior team grew last season after he scored a hat trick against Chelsea U18s and a brace of free kicks against Liverpool U18s.

After making his debut in the Champions League against PSG last season, Greenwood has broken through this season – scoring 12 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions.

The England U21 international has proven himself to be a lethal finisher with United fans unable to help themselves at comparisons with Robin van Persie.

One of the things that make him stand out is how good he is with both feet, with his above-mentioned free kick brace against Liverpool U18s coming off his right boot, which is supposed to be the weaker one.

Greenwood has proven himself to be a very lethal finisher with his actual goals per 90 (0.64) being over double to his expected goals per 90 (0.31).

Such a huge difference between actual and expected output is unsustainable in the long term but there is no doubt that his finishing is of the highest quality.

A clean striker of the ball who can also take on defenders, Greenwood can play out on the right as well as a number 10 behind the striker.

There have been several players who have failed at the club after breaking through with the likes of Federico Macheda, Adnan Januzaj and Ravel Morrison serving as poignant reminders to United fans to not get carried away.

However, Greenwood’s composure on the pitch at such a young age makes one believe that he is well and truly the real deal.

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