Legends Have High Hopes For Rashford

Fresh from being announced as Manchester United's Player of the Month for September, Marcus Rashford has received some high praise from a number of the game's best players, with all of them excited to see what there is still to come from the Reds and England forward.

Robin van Persie, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, Matt Le Tissier and Emile Heskey know all about the art of scoring goals and, before Wednesday night's Legends of Football dinner, the quintet spoke exclusively to ManUtd.com and MUTV about the rise of Rashford and their favourite qualities of the 18-year-old.

Head of United's Academy, Nicky Butt, also spoke about Rashford's supreme talent and insisted: "He can be the shining star for our Academy." This is what Butt and co. had to say about the United striker, who is likely to be in action for England over the coming days...

ROBIN VAN PERSIE
"Marcus looks like a very special player to me. He has something about him. He’s always playing with pace and good technique, always with his eyes focused on going straight to the goal. A very good player and he has a nice future ahead of him."

NICKY BUTT
"Marcus is an amazing player. He’s a great footballer but he’s got a long way to go with a lot to learn. He knows that. That’s the great thing about him, he’s a good character with a good personality and he can be the shining star for our Academy. It’s great to have someone like Marcus and we’ve got a lot more coming along like him with good characters, who are good people that stand for what our Academy’s all about, which is great."

ALAN SHEARER
"Everyone at United should be very proud of him. He’s a fantastic talent with bundles of energy. He doesn’t seem to be affected by pressure or playing for such a huge football club and he’s someone that has been given a chance and he’s taken it. All forwards want to do is score goals and he’s doing that. He’s got tremendous pace and he seems to be able to handle the big occasion, even though he is still very young. The future is very exciting both for him and Manchester United and I hope he now starts for England and goes on to bag a few goals."

EMILE HESKEY
"I rate him very highly. It’s a strange one because you don’t usually see young lads take things in their stride the way he has... a debut, go out there and be the best on the pitch and score a goal. England debut - be the best on the pitch and score a goal. Manchester derby - go out and score a goal. He just seems to be taking everything in his stride and going from strength to strength. It’s nice to see a fresh face like him but he needs to keep working on everything. He’s only a young lad, yet he seems like he has a good brain on him and he’s understanding football very well and very quickly. It’s interesting to see some of the runs that he makes because you can see he is a very intelligent footballer. He’s working under one of the best managers around as well so that will help."

MATT LE TISSIER
"I think Marcus Rashford has got the world at his feet. From what I’ve seen of his short career so far, he strikes me as having all the right qualities to go right to the top of his profession. What’s great about him and what I love most about Marcus is he’s kept his feet firmly on the ground. I love the way he speaks when he does an interview, he comes across as being a really grounded and sensible lad and that’s important in this day and age."

MICHAEL OWEN
"Hopefully there is loads more to come from him. He’s hit the ground running and it’s always interesting to see how people adapt to making their debut. His came in during strange circumstances, after an injury in the warm-up to Anthony Martial, so he won’t have had any time to think about it and, when that happens, you just go and do what you always do. And he’s not looked back. When you have a really good first experience in anything in life, it gives you confidence to think: ‘I can do this.’ United is a hard club to play for in many ways because there is always someone challenging you for your place but he's done particularly well in his short career so far. You hope he keeps improving and progresses into becoming a really great top-flight player for years to come."