Thanks to the 2-0 victory over Villarreal, Manchester United and Ralf Rangnick had the luxury to field a team full of youngsters and players who have struggled for playing time in their last Champions League group stage game against Young Boys. Thus, players such as Mason Greenwood, Anthony Elanga, Amad Diallo, Teden Mengi, Shola Shoretire, Charlie Savage, and Zidane Iqbal all featured for the Red Devils in midweek.
With nothing riding on the result of the match, Rangnick took the opportunity to gauge the abilities of some of the players in his squad who have not played a lot of football this season. And some of them took their chance in midweek. One such player was Greenwood.
Following some smart play from Luke Shaw down the left, Greenwood opened the scoring for the Red Devils in the first half. The finish for the goal was great.
Although the match ended in a 1-1 draw, Greenwood must have made an impression on the German manager with his performance.
Rangnick identifies weaknesses in Manchester United star’s game
It is clear that Rangnick has been impressed by Greenwood and even admitted to him being a ‘massive talent’. But the Manchester United interim manager also pointed out some of the weaknesses in his game.
As reported by Manchester United’s official website, Rangnick said about Greenwood after the game against Young Boys:
"“He is a massive talent. Right foot, left foot, good on the ball, also the way he set up the goal for Fred on Sunday. But still, it is about continuity. He has to develop physically, but technically for his age he is a great player, and my job is to develop him and make an athlete out of him and if he manages to do that, he can become a regular player for this club.”"
Having come through the Manchester United youth ranks over the years, Greenwood has proven to be a big part of the senior side already despite being just 20 years of age. According to stats from Transfermarkt, in the 2021/22 season, the youngster has scored 5 goals and provided 2 assists from 17 appearances across all competitions.
There is very little doubt about his talent. But like every other player, there are areas that Greenwood needs to work on as well. And if he can improve in those aspects, he has the potential to be one of the best players in the world one day.