Manchester United are steadily improving under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s stewardship, but comparing one of their strikers to Kylian Mbappe might be considered a bit of a stretch.
That’s not to say that former United marksmen, Louis Saha, is completely wide of the mark when speaking about Marcus Rashford, as there are similarities.
However, Mbappe is clearly a class apart at this stage, not least because of the World Cup winners medal that he fully deserved.
Rashford was missed whilst injured and his return will give the Red Devils a real boost, but in order to be considered Mbappe’s equal, surely he needs to be adding consistent silverware into his trophy cabinet as well as single-handedly winning games when the chips are down.
“They’re both very fast players, they have the technical ability to get out of situations where they’re surrounded by two or three defenders,” Saha told Compare Bet and cited by the Daily Express.
“In terms of positions, Marcus and Kylian are quite similar. They like to play out wide but have also played up top.
“Kylian’s strength is that he is very direct, all the time. He doesn’t think twice.
“When he makes runs, you have to give him the ball, he’s so quick. That kind of directness is something we’ve also seen from Rashford.
“When he started, he was asking questions of defenders, ‘Are you quick enough and good enough to keep me quiet for 90 minutes’?
“In terms of quality, they’re definitely in the same bracket. Mbappe has been able to achieve more consistency and approach the game without having to think too much.”
The England marksmen leads the line well for United and is a certain starter for the side when fit and firing.
His attributes are many, but the pressure of being compared to a player that is head and shoulders above almost every other striker in world football at present may not be welcomed.