Greenwood hailed after overtaking Rooney’s scoring record as a teen
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has praised teenage striker Mason Greenwood as he juggles his resources to meet the demands of four games in eight days.
With his strike in the 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, Greenwood, 19, registered his 16th senior goal for United and overtook Wayne Rooney as their top-scoring teenager in English Premier League history.
| MAN UNITED | LEICESTER CITY |
It was also his fifth goal in his last five EPL games, which explained why Solskjaer wanted to keep him fresh and took him off with 25 minutes left.
"Yeah, he's tired, his body is not really filled out yet and he might not be ready for all of these games but he's got something special," said Solskjaer.
"The kid just turns the game around in one split-second and the goal was excellent, so delighted that he's got back to his goalscoring best."
The Villa match followed last week's second leg of the Europa League semi-final at AS Roma and comes ahead of this week's games against Leicester City and Liverpool, both of whom are eyeing a top-four spot.
Solskjaer, who is waiting to learn the extent of Harry Maguire's ankle injury, said with the title race still mathematically alive, he would like to go "full out in all the games", but admitted it was impossible.
Victory for United in both matches would cut Manchester City's lead at the top of the table to just four points but realistically would only delay the Etihad title party.
Maguire's place is set to go to Eric Bailly or Axel Tuanzebe. Winger Daniel James and forward Anthony Martial are also out, leaving opportunities for youngsters such as Amad Diallo and Shola Shoretire.
There was good news from the United camp when it was announced that Edinson Cavani signed a new one-year deal.
Although Leicester's grip on a top-four spot has loosened following three defeats in their last six games, midfielder Wilfred Ndidi says the Foxes can take confidence from their 3-1 win over United in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March.
He told the club website: "It was a good, good feeling, playing against Manchester United. It gave us good feelings and it was good for confidence." - AFP
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