Michael Carrick has hailed the rise of Marcus Rashford as one of the important members of the Manchester United first-team in the space of a few months.
Rashford came through the ranks at United but few expected him to be an integral part of the first-team that is on the verge of winning the FA Cup. The 18-year-old was little-known outside the Manchester United faithful but he was given an opportunity in the first team by Louis Van Gaal. The decision by the Dutchman may have been forced due to injuries to Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial, but he had the foresight to see the potential with an Rashford.
After making an explosive debut, the striker went on to score against clubs like Arsenal and Manchester City. Even though manager Roy Hodgson recently ruled out taking Rashford to the Euro 2016 despite calls from various quarters, he is expected to feature for the England team at some time in the future. Carrick claims that the rise of striker is similar to a fairytale. The midfielder reckons that even the striker would have wanted to take it step-by-step before featuring for the first-team. The 18-year-old has been fast tracked from the youth team directly into the first-team without having much experience at the U21 level.
"It's a little bit of a fairytale in a way.If you have asked Marcus, he would have probably wanted to get himself into the U21s on a regular basis and taken it step by step. But he got thrown in after Anthony's injury and he has never looked back since. He seems to getting stronger, better and better, and he doesn't look out of place or as though he's is going to be a quick fix - he looks like he's got all the capabilities of being here for an awful long time," said Carrick.