LONDON • Manchester United have spent more than £1 billion (S$1.76 billion) on new players over the past nine years, but their latest revival owes much to a homegrown star in 18-year-old academy graduate Mason Greenwood.
The Red Devils host Southampton today in the Premier League on the back of an 17-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
A win for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men will move them into the top four - something that was remote when they had just 34 points from 24 English top-flight games at the end of January.
With 24 more points on board since and four more league games left, United's transformation after initially being on course for their worst season since 1990, when they finished 13th, has been impressive.
Their form can be attributed to the return of Paul Pogba to full fitness, the January signing of Bruno Fernandes - no player has had more than his seven goals and six assists in 10 league games - as well as the rise of Greenwood.
The England Under-21 striker is expected to start against the Saints, having already notched 16 goals in all competitions this season.
His hot streak - just three other players aged 18 or under have scored in three straight league games - makes him undroppable, according to Solskjaer.
The United manager said of his starlet, who has nine league goals this term, making him United's highest-ever scoring player below the age of 19 in the top flight: "You cannot leave players out when they score goals.
"He's 18 and of course he will get better. He is a natural footballer and has been in the academy since he was a little boy. His dad showed me a picture of us together when he was seven. He knows we believe in him."
Greenwood could break another record today - no teenager has netted in four league games in a row for United, but Solskjaer will ensure his feet is kept firmly on the ground.
Youth-team graduates James Wilson and Federico Macheda similarly burst on to the scene at Old Trafford before their hype fizzled out.
However, Solskjaer feels Greenwood is of a different calibre, having spent the three-month coronavirus-enforced break to put on a reported 3kg of muscle mass.
"At that age, you've got so much energy, you've got no fear," he said. "You just want to go and play football. If we have a day off, he'll go and play football with his mates.
"I'm not worried about Mason this season. We just need to look after him his whole career.
"Mason is looking more and more like a man, he's one of the best - if not the best finisher I have worked with and seen."
That is high praise from Solskjaer, who earned the tag "baby-faced assassin" for his prowess in front of goal in 11 seasons with United.
With Greenwood already being tipped by pundits to earn his first England call-up soon, free-scoring United, who have won four successive games by a three-goal margin, look set for their sixth victory on the spin since the league resumed last month.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
MAN UNITED V SOUTHAMPTON
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