Manchester United news: Marcus Rashford learns from Zlatan Ibrahimovic as striker welcomes Paul Pogba signing

Forwards played a half each in Saturday's friendly win over Galatasaray

James Mariner
Sunday 31 July 2016 16:10 BST
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic impressed in his first appearance for Manchester United (Getty)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic impressed in his first appearance for Manchester United (Getty)

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford admits he is eager to get going with the new season and learn from new team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swede made his first appearance in a Manchester United shirt during Saturday's 5-2 friendly victory over Galatasaray in Sweden - scoring after just four minutes - and Rashford, who came on in the veteran's place for the second half, can not wait to play alongside Zlatan.

“We can definitely all learn from him while he is here,” Rashford said of the new arrival. “We all need to take that chance, It’s a massive help to be with him every day and it’s great to see what he is like on and off the pitch. There is a lot to learn from him and hopefully I can bring some of his game into mine.”

Rashford hopes to continue that form into Sunday's Community Shield against Leicester and the League opener at Bournemouth seven days later, in what is the start of his first full season with the first team. “It’s really important to get that first win together as a group,“ he continued. ”It’s great for us in the build-up to the season. There’s a lot of optimism, as that is only our second pre-season game as a full squad – it was the first game for some players It is very exciting for both fans and players.”

Ibrahimovic looked visibly impressed with Rashford's display off the bench in Gothenberg, as he earned a penalty which Wayne Rooney converted for United’s third. The 34-year-old spoke glowingly of the potential of his new side, with a nod to the impending arrival of Paul Pogba.

“We have something big going on. It looks very interesting. Let's see if Pogba will also [come] - then it will be even more interesting.

“[My goal] felt good - very good. The first half was so-so but the second was good. It was my first game and right not it's important to build up my physique and stamina.”

New United manager Jose Mourinho declared himself happy with his side's performance and was pleased to be able to field some of the fringe players linked with a move away from Old Trafford.

Marcus Rashford caught the eye as a substitute against Galatasaray on Saturday (Getty)

“The most important thing was to play, to give minutes to the players,” he told MUTV. “They need to play. We lost a week in China [the postponed Manchester derby] and some of the boys who played today, trained for two days. There is not a long time to work, not a long time to change, to implement new ideas, new principles. We have a game against Leicester next weekend and we have the Premier League in a couple of weeks. We need time, we don't have time. The only solution is to train hard and to train against opposition like [Galatasaray] is the most important thing.

“I am happy with the intensity of the game, the spirit, I am happy with the atmosphere but we have to work. On Monday we will have a double training session and on Wednesday, we are at Old Trafford for Rooney and for our fans.”

“When I see guys like [Marouane] Fellaini, [Anthony] Martial, [Morgan] Schneiderlin, they trained two days and they can be here. I told them, 'Don't try to go with the intensity of the game, go with an intensity that makes you comfortable.

“I prefer this way, that they are on the pitch so I am happy. The opposition played already six or seven matches so they were in a higher tempo. I am happy with it all. And I am happy that out of such a big group we have just Timothy [Fosu-Mensah] and Chris Smalling with little injuries -apart from them, no injuries and everything looks well.”

And the fringe players?

“Well if they were not in my plans I would not give them one single minute. I wouldn't keep them in my squad. The squad is very competitive, very important for the season. We are going to play 60 matches and you cannot do that with 11 players. To be in the squad you have to understand that the squad is more important than the individual. Everything is part of squad life.”

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