MANCHESTER UNITED legend Andrew Cole fears the club are putting too much pressure on young star Mason Greenwood.
The ex-United striker admitted he was stunned by Greenwood’s razor-sharp finishing – which he labelled “a joke” – but fears Old Trafford chiefs are pinning their hopes on the 17-year-old when he should be making small, cameo roles this season.
Greenwood has already played in six of United‘s eight matches this term, scoring in the last two games against Astana in the Europa League and in the Carabao Cup against Rochdale.
The teenager only missed the West Ham defeat through injury.
But 1999 Treble winner Cole, who clocked up 275 matches for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side after a £7m move from Toon in 1995, fears that the club’s shortage of top strikers – after the £73m departure of Romelu Lukaku and the loan switch of Alexis Sanchez, means boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is having to play the young striker regularly.
Cole told BBC Radio 5 Live: “He’s got a chance, he has got a chance. His finishing is a joke. Left or right foot, he’s got quality in abundance.
“I just hope they won’t put too much undue pressure on him. He’s got great ability.
“The disappointing thing is he’s going to have to get thrown in to the deep end a little bit earlier than they would have liked, due to injuries, due to them being prepared to allow Lukaku and Sanchez to go.
“They’re looking at it and saying ‘we’ve got Mason, we’re going to give Marcus [Rashford] the opportunity to play centre-forward.”
Rarely have United thrown their lot in with such a young player.
Even under Sir Alex Ferguson it was a gradual build-up of being included in the matchday squad for the likes of Ryan Giggs, who was 20 when he became a first-team regular, as was Gary Neville and David Beckham.
Wayne Rooney was 19 when he made his United debut, scoring a hat-trick against Fenerbahce.
One of the few exceptions is Duncan Edwards, who was 16 years and 185 days when he made his debut against Cardiff in Division One on April 4, 1953.
He emerged as a regular for Sir Matt Busby in the 1953-54 season but died in the 1958 Munich air disaster.
Greenwood is set to play No9 against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Monday.
With Rashford injured and Anthony Martial already out, Solskjaer is desperately short of options.
