Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has compared the clubs’ current front three to the combination of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and Carlos Tevez as he hailed the versatility and guile of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James.
Rashford and Martial were on target for the Red Devils as United beat fierce local rivals Manchester City in last weekend’s derby at the Etihad Stadium, and Solskjaer believes young England forward is showing signs he can follow in the footsteps of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
Solskjaer and Ronaldo spent four years together as players for Manchester United at Old Trafford before the Norwegian worked with his Ronaldo as a forwards coach, and few people are better placed to compare the Juventus star with upcoming young United striker Marcus Rashford.
Speaking about the fluid movement and interchanging positional play between Rashford, Martial and James, Solskjaer praised the trio and went on to compare the three to Rooney, Tevez, and Ronaldo, “I think that’s a big strength of ours as a team. If Marcus runs in behind, Anthony will get some space because it stretches the opponent. It can be the opposite way around too, with Anthony and Dan running in behind and Marcus coming to feet to get on the ball. I see this attack as being quite similar to the one we had with Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and Carlos Tevez, with the interchanging of positions and the fast, flowing football.”
Under Solskjaer, Rashford has equaled his best Premier League goal return in a single campaign within the first half of the 2019-20 season. The 22-year-old’s 10th league goal of the season came from the penalty spot against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Solskjaer praised the Englishman’s versatility while drawing comparisons with Ronaldo, who played on the wing and as a striker during his time with the 20-time league champions.
