Mason Greenwood is part of Manchester United’s match day squad for their FA Cup third round replay against Wolves tonight and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes an international call-up will eventually happen.
The two teams played out an unentertaining 0-0 draw at Molineux on 11 days ago where Greenwood played all 90 minutes.
Greenwood has shown real promising signs for United, and it might be a possibility that Gareth Southgate could consider him for England’s friendlies against Italy and Denmark in March with Spurs’ Harry Kane sidelined, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy having called time on his international career and Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson out of form.
“Let the boy settle in now before we talk about England and the Euros,” Solskjaer said.
“Focus has to be on playing more for us, improving, and when he plays more for us that’ll happen by itself.”
When Louis van Gaal handed Marcus Rashford his Manchester United debut in February 2016 at the age of 18, he was fast-tracked into England’s Euro 2016 squad.
Rashford, Greenwood’s current club team mate, is now a full England international having scored 10 goals in 38 caps and having featured more than any other player under Southgate.
For Rashford, the stepping stone to the senior squad was the under-21s. After scoring a hat-trick on his England debut against Norway in September 2016, it became apparent that he had to be promoted to the seniors.
The same stage will now provide a similar opportunity for Greenwood, and Solskjaer insists the striker is fully focused.
“He’s just been picked for the under-21s so he’s focusing on his football.
“I think Mason will have a top and long career.”
Greenwood came off the bench to score his ninth goal of the season in United’s 4-0 rout of Norwich City on Saturday, and tonight he will likely feature from the start as United look to beat Wolves for the first time since they were promoted to the Premier League in the summer of 2018.
In the five meetings between the two teams since the start of last season, there have been four draws while Wolves beat United 2-1 at home in last season’s FA Cup quarter-final.
Wolves advanced to the semi-finals but were beaten 3-2 by Watford at Wembley, and an away tie against the Hornets, recently rejuvenated following the recent appointment of Nigel Pearson, could well be the next step for the winner of tonight’s game in their FA Cup adventure.
The alternative to Vicarage Road is a trip to Prenton Park to play League One strugglers Tranmere Rovers, a ground that should have played host to the replay between the two teams last night but was called off due to a waterlogged pitch. The game will now be played on Jan 23.
If United are to advance tonight, Greenwood could well play a big role and could feature as part of a three-pronged attack with Rashford and Anthony Martial.
“They’re working hard to improve their game. Mason’s in his first season, so to have nine goals in not 20 appearances is fantastic. Marcus is growing and improving all the time and Anthony has missed eight weeks,” said Solskjaer.
“I’m impressed by them, working well, on finishing patterns, we want consistency and we’ll see more and more of them.”
Image courtesy of Manchester United via Twitter, with thanks.
