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Surprised? The great Louis van Gaal? What. "If you get the chance, you have to show performance and do what we ask," said the Manchester United coach on 28 February 2016 after beating Arsenal on 18-year-old Assault your own offspring was addressed.

Marcus Rashford scored twice in his debut in the Premier League, earning him a 3-2 win over the London club, marking a memorable week. Three days earlier, he had scored twice in his first appearance ever for the pros in the 5-1 European League against FC Midtjylland. "Four goals in two games - that's a pretty unusual cut," confessed Van Gaal, known as the talent promoter.

He led Ajax Amsterdam in 1995 with many players from the club's famous academy to the title in the Champions League. At Bayern he helped Thomas Müller to breakthrough. Manchester fans have few fond memories of Van Gaal's two-year tenure at Old Trafford. Among other things, he managed to retire in the Champions League preliminary round against VfL Wolfsburg. But at least, he gave them the pro Rashford. And with it the big promise to an attacker of international top class from own education.

AFP

Marcus Rashford

A good 150 missions later, the now 21-year-old Rashford is in the process of fulfilling this promise. "He is playing the best football of his career at the moment," said his current coach Ole Gunnar Solskjær ahead of the UEFA Champions League first knockout round tie against Paris Saint-Germain this Tuesday (9pm, Liveticker SPIEGEL ONLINE). The good form of the English national striker is inextricably linked with the coach from Norway, who replaced José Mourinho in December and has good arguments to be promoted from a transitional to a permanent solution.

Rashford has been thriving since Solskjær became a coach

Under Mourinho, Rashford's career had stalled. The talent from the suburb Wythenshawe was homeless on the field, played on the left wing, sometimes on the right and sometimes in the middle. He often sat on the bench. Speculation about parting from his favorite club since childhood has made the rounds.

Under Solskjær, Rashford, along with Paul Pogba, is the player who made the most impressive leap in performance. But with the world champion from France, one has the impression that he is just happy that he no longer has to work under Mourinho. Solskjær did not have much to do in Pogba's case.

At Rashford, the influence of the coach is more obvious. He made the young man with the thin legs a regular in the middle of the storm because he is faster, agile and technically stronger than Romelu Lukaku, Mourinho's first choice in this position. And he encourages him to use these skills to the fullest. The result: With six goals and two assists in eight league games since the coaching change, Rashford has been instrumental in helping Manchester United move into fourth place, which is almost out of reach.

With what confidence he operates under Solskjær, was best to visit his hit three and a half weeks ago against Brighton. Rashford got the ball on the left edge of the box, prevailed with a nice spin against his opponent and hit from an acute angle by gobbling into the far corner. Such goals score only players who are convinced of themselves and know the backing of their coach.

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ManUnited striker Marcus Rashford: icon from the suburb

Compare with Mbappé

It was Rashford's 41st goal in the 150th game for Manchester United. For comparison: Cristiano Ronaldo had met at the same time only 25 times for the English record champions, Wayne Rooney 45 times. The numbers suggest that Rashford might follow them as an icon at Old Trafford. But he has to stay that way.

His current contract is valid until 2020. The negotiations on a new working paper have just begun. Allegedly, the club is ready to double its salary in order to retain it in the long term and to throw off potential competitors like Real Madrid.

Manchester United is already a few years down the top of the transfer food chain. The unspectacular additions this season - Fred, young defender Diogo Dalot and a third Goalkeeper from Stoke City - illustrate this. From the summoned in the summer defenders Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Harry Maguire (Leicester) and Jérôme Boateng (Bayern) came no.

If the club wants to find their way back to their old size, last time Sir Alex Ferguson's farewell to the 2013 English champions, it would be important to keep Rashford. Coach Solskjær knows about its value. He even compares him to Kylian Mbappé of Champions League opponents Paris. He said about the two top talents: "The two will enlighten football in the next ten years."