Mason Greenwood's form since the return of the Premier League has been outstanding. The Manchester United youngster has brought his goal-scoring form from youth level onto the biggest stage in England. He is now a foundational piece of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's future success and leverage against the desperation to sign Jadon Sancho.
Manchester United still have a long way to go. Ole Gunnar Solskjær's team have won their last four games. They've won four of five since the Premier League returned, drawing their opening game with Jose Mourinho's Tottenham. It's not a false dawn but nor is it a great achievement. United are beating teams they should beat. That's a big step forward from where they were under Mourinho.
But that's all it is. A step forward. To catch Manchester City and Liverpool they still have to build on what they've got.
Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes are at the centre of this new direction. Metaphorically and literally. Their relationship in United's midfield is akin to that of Andrea Pirlo's and Francesco Totti's in Italy's 2006 Wold Cup-winning team. Fernandes, like Totti, is only a midfielder in name. He plays in the final third. He's the upfield playmaker who creates in tight spaces and threatens the defence with assists and goals. Pogba is the deep-lying playmaker who sets attacks in motion and joins from a true central midfield position.
While they are very different individuals to Pirlo and Totti, the structure of the United team around them will follow that same pattern. With these pieces, United are in a similar position to the one Liverpool were in when they had Coutinho as their best player. Or the first iteration of the Manchester City team after Sheikh Mansour bought the club. The next moves will determine if they can rejoin the title contenders or continue to build as a Champions League participant.
For a long time, the next move was supposed to be signing Jadon Sancho.
Sancho still makes sense. He's a young, English star who has already proven himself in the Champions League and at the top of the Bundesliga. The rumours have been rife for more than 12 months now. Fernandes' success has eased some of the pressure on United to overspend and land Sancho's star power. Mason Greenwood's success has given United a legitimate alternative to brush off any expensive price tag. Instead of meeting Borrusia Dortmund's £100 million valuation, Solskjaer can happily start Greenwood again next season.
It's a lot of pressure on an 18-year-old. There's no doubt that he won't be consistent week to week. But there's also no doubt that he's got the potential to be one of the best players in the Premier League. Even if Sancho is signed, Greenwood will still be heavily involved either as the lead striker up top or rotating behind Sancho and Anthony Martial.
Greenwood has scored four goals in United's last three games. Each of those goals has shown off his peak trait.
A peak trait is an ability that a player has that he builds the rest of his skill set around. The power and precision with which Greenwood strikes the ball on goal is his peak trait. He's the most powerful striker of a ball that United have had since Cristiano Ronaldo. He matches Ronaldo's ability to replicate that controlled power off of both feet from different positions.
For this first goal against Bournemouth, the ball is with Marcus Rashford on the right wing. It's not a counter-attack at speed but the defence is scrambling to get its positioning. Rashford plays a good ball inside to Bruno Fernandes. As he is wont to do, Fernandes has the perfect first touch to find space. He crosses the face of the first defender and opens up his options instead of driving to the space that was immediately in front of him.
Anthony Martial is between both centre backs in the middle fo the penalty area. Fernandes' first touch drew in the right-sided defender, leaving Greenwood in space to the left.
Greenwood knows where the space is. You can see him take a sidestep before the ball is played so that he's further behind the closest defender. His first touch with his left foot perfectly sets up the shot that follows. On the broadcast view, it looks like Greenwood rockets the ball into the top corner. A spectacular finish. He doesn't.
The replay angle shows us that Greenwood's finish isn't particularly well-placed. The ball hits the forearm of the goalkeeper's outstretched arm and ricochets into the roof of the net. Greenwood used his first touch to allow him to clear the ball from the recovering defender but it also gave him the chance to get full backlift with his striking foot. His shot is a hammer, breaking through the keeper's forearm.
It might be fair to criticize the keeper for not getting a strong hand to the ball, but that's the impact of Greenwood being able to generate such velocity on the ball.
Similar happened for Greenwood's second goal against Bournemouth. This time the ball went through the keeper's fingertips when he was at full stretch. That shot came off of Greenwood's right foot. Unlike the previous goal, Greenwood had more work to do to create this opportunity. His first touch receiving the ball from Nemanja Matic outside the box allows him to instantly turn on the ball. He squares up the left back to stop his feet before shifting the ball with his left foot past his outside shoulder.
Greenwood shows balance and technique to feint a shot before pushing the ball ahead to create his opening. He again has the space to get the backlift he needs to generate huge velocity on the ball.
There's no such thing as a fully-developed 18-year-old. Greenwood is capable of playing at this level. He'll have to prove his consistency and learn different nuances of his position with the more exposure he gets. But even in these early stages he's showing a feel for positioning and an awareness of how to maximize his impact on games. His goal against Brighton begins with all11 Brighton defenders deep in a tight defensive alignment.
Greenwood is in the inside right channel as the ball is with Harry Maguire on the opposite side of the field. He holds his position inside, understanding that Aaron Wan-Bissaka is wide outside.
After initially working toward the ball, Greenwood recognizes the defender running upfield so stops to hold his position. He shows for the ball despite a Brighton player being close to his inside shoulder. The pass from Wan-Bissaka is perfectly weighted, allowing Greenwood to turn into space quickly. Once isolated one-on-one with the central defender, Greenwood is able to stand him up and fit the ball in at the near post.
The direct nature of his play here requires a healthy arrogance. Greenwood has confidence in his footwork and technique so he moves directly to the defender, using step-overs to make him shift his weight. The defender can't step up to him, instead conceding ground before having to react to Greenwood shifting the ball onto his left foot. Greenwood uses the defender to break the sightline of the goalkeeper, allowing him to beat him to the near post.
Arrogance is an important aspect of an attacking players make-up. Having a healthy dose of arrogance allows you to be direct with your own efforts on goal but still defer to your teammates when opportunities present themselves. For his goal against Aston Villa, Greenwood took part in a counter-attack that showed off his intelligence and willingness to defer to teammates in better positions than him.
Greenwood knows that he has three teammates leading the counter with him. He presses an inside channel, opening up the opportunity for his immediate teammate to loop around the outside.
That ball looked like it was on but Rashford was also on in the middle of the field. Greenwood plays the ball inside, giving Rashford the chance to set a strike on goal. Rashford, as he tends to do, recognizes his gravity. All three immediate defenders are drawn to the ball, creating space for Greenwood to take the ball back. Greenwood doesn't rush into the box, he senses the space and makes a purposeful stop to maximize his time on the ball and give Rashford an angle for the return pass.
Once he receives it, he does the same thing he did for each of his other goals. A perfect first touch and a powerful finish. The keeper was unsighted again, giving him no chance of reaching the ball.
Considering his success at youth level and rise to the senior squad at such a young age, it would be easy for Greenwood to get carried away with himself and play more selfishly. This is a player who scored 29 goals in 28 appearances for the youth team last season. He obviously knows how to finish and he obviously has the requisite confidence to be a clinical finisher at the highest level. It's not stopping him from being a high-end teammate too.
If Solskjaer is to reach the heights that Manchester United's current form promises, their future success will be built around a foundation of Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.
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