Rashford comes in from the cold at Man United

Marcus Rashford was in danger of seeing his dream of becoming Manchester United's star striker turn to dust but the England forward is flourishing again after escaping Jose Mourinho's shackles.

Three years after exploding onto the Premier League scene, Rashford marked his 150th United appearance on Saturday with a memorable goal that underlined his vast potential.

Smoothly turning away from Brighton's Pascal Gross, Rashford curled a fine shot into the top corner as United sealed a seventh successive win since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as interim manager.

Solskjaer's arrival in December to replace the sacked Mourinho has proved a catalyst for United's surge, and Rashford has been at the heart of their success.

Rashford has scored five times in six league matches following the Norwegian's appointment, earning comparisons from his manager with former United stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

"Definitely he can be absolutely top-class. He is only 21 but the maturity he is showing at times is more than 21," Solskjaer said when asked if Rashford was capable of emulating Ronaldo and Rooney.

Born in the south Manchester suburb of Wythenshawe, Rashford has long appeared destined to join the lengthy list of homegrown United legends.

He joined the club as a seven-year-old and was so highly regarded that the notoriously demanding Louis van Gaal handed him his debut in a Europa League tie against Midtjylland in February 2016.

The coltish Rashford netted twice that night, before scoring another brace against Arsenal in his first Premier League game three days later.

He also scored in his first Manchester derby match and his first Champions League match, earning an England call-up that featured -- what else -- a debut goal.

Scoring against Australia in the third minute, Rashford became the youngest Englishman to net on his international bow.

But following Mourinho's arrival, it quickly became clear that Rashford's precocious talent would be tolerated but not fully trusted by the Portuguese coach.

Mourinho rarely gave Rashford a sustained run of games as a centre forward, preferring to use him on the flanks while Romelu Lukaku monopolised playing time, even though the Belgian was often inconsistent.

- Hunger and desire -
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