Marcus Rashford has praised the influence of his former manager, Louis Van Gaal, on the striker's development as Manchester United's foremost attacking threat.
The 22-year-old is having his best season to date with 16 goals in all competitions and namechecked Van Gaal when discussing his development from academy graduate to star for club and country.
“The time with Louis was very good for me. He and Ryan Giggs helped me a lot,” Rashford told Robin Van Persie on BT Sport. “Because that transition from the reserves to the first team can be hard - I hadn’t played much reserve football.
“I was on the bench for the first team before I had even started for the reserves. Van Gaal was top.
“At the time I was getting a lot of praise and attention from everywhere outside but the biggest thing for me were his words.
“That was what was making me smile every day. To be part of Man United’s first team. There were some games when it was difficult.
“I remember a game - Tottenham away - when he took me off at half-time. The next day we spoke honestly - I was still smiling.”
Rashford added that Van Gaal's sacking from the club was a reality check that not everything in his career would be straight forward.
“Sometimes we are our biggest nightmare. We want everything too fast," he explained to his former teammate Van Persie.
“Because we won the FA Cup with Van Gaal, I had it in my mind that we were going to win everything. So you are going into the season with expectations and you get a reality check.
“The way he dealt with the Spurs situation - that was the game I realised I was in a man’s world.”
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