Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Marcus Rashford can reach Cristiano Ronaldo's level
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says it is "very easy to compare" Marcus Rashford to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Rashford was one of Manchester United's standout performers in Saturday's 2-1 victory over local rivals Manchester City.
His first-half penalty gave his side the lead and moved him on to 10 Premier League goals for the season.
Only three players have found the net more often than Rashford this term, and Solskjaer believes the England international will continue to improve.
"It’s very easy to compare the two of them, yes," the Norwegian said when asked whether Rashford's display against City reminded him of Ronaldo.
"Both with skills, body shape, attitude, attributes – everything. The boy has every chance in the world to become a top, top player. Let’s hope he continues like this."
Rashford has already equalled his best ever Premier League goals tally, having finished last season with 10 strikes in 33 appearances.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
The 22-year-old looks set to smash that record in 2019/20 given that United still have 22 games left to play.
But Solskjaer insists he has not set any sort of target for Rashford, who has also scored once in the Europa League and twice in the League Cup.
“I don’t want to talk about the amount of goals. As long as he keeps being positive and being direct and thinking about getting in front of the goal and getting chances, he’ll score goals.”
Solskjaer is likely to rest Rashford and a number of other key players when United face AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday, having already secured their place in the knockout stage.
The Red Devils then host Everton in the Premier League on Sunday as they attempt to close the gap to the top four.
And Solskjaer's side have the chance to progress to the League Cup semi-finals when they take on Colchester next Wednesday.
READ MORE
Ansu Fati becomes youngest Champions League goalscorer – but what happened to the others?
Andy Mitten column: How Solskjaer is building his Manchester United team around Marcus Rashford
Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).