Former Manchester United ace Luke Chadwick has talked up Mason Greenwood as having huge potential despite his recent problems off the pitch.
The 18-year-old enjoyed a stunning breakthrough campaign last season, scoring 17 goals for the first-team and showing great all-round ability to show that he’s up there with the most exciting prospects in Europe at the moment.
Man Utd fans will be eager to see more of Greenwood this season, but they will also no doubt have been disappointed by the recent antics that saw him axed from the England squad.
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Chadwick has backed the teenager to bounce back, however, saying this could be an important learning curve for him on his way to what should still be a great career.
The former United midfielder clearly rates Greenwood extremely highly, saying he looks to have the potential to become one of the top two or three players in the world.
“Obviously it doesn’t look good on him (Greenwood). You’d hope it will be a massive learning period for him,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside. “Remember the lad’s 18 years old. It’s all very well saying you’re a Man United player and this can’t happen, but these things do happen, they happen to everyone.
“He could be in the top two or three players in the world if he carries on on this trajectory. Obviously these things aren’t going to help, so he needs to learn from it quickly because he’s a generational talent, which I don’t think is too big a word to say when you see what he’s done in his first full season at the club.
“The way the world is now you can’t do anything without it coming out on social media, but I wouldn’t say it’s a huge concern as long as the lad can learn quickly from it.
“He’s going to want to prove a point next season, hopefully this will give him a bit of a kick up the backside to get him fully focused on his football and have another exceptional season at the club.”
United fans will hope Chadwick is right, with Greenwood certainly one of the most exciting players to come through their academy for some time.
It would be a shame to see problems off the pitch distract the youngster, as notably happened with Ravel Morrison, who is widely considered to be one of the biggest wasted talents of recent times.
Greenwood certainly deserves the chance to put things right, however, and should be a key player for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side when they get their Premier League season going at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
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