Jose Mourinho backs Marcus Rashford to succeed at Manchester United even though he is no longer 'the surprise kid'

Mourinho is certain his teenage forward will overcome the dreaded second season syndrome and has praised Henrikh Mkhitaryan, saying the forward is now "ready to play" for the club

Jose Mourinho has praised the recent contributions of his teenage forward Marcus Rashford (Getty Images)

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has praised the recent contributions and work-rate of Marcus Rashford, defending the 19-year old for “missing some chances” in recent matches because he is still suffering from the effects of the infamous second season syndrome.

The teenage forward broke into the United first-team under Louis van Gaal last season and enjoyed an extraordinary first campaign in professional football, scoring five goals in 11 league appearances and earning a call up to Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad.

But Rashford has found his second season in the first-team rather more difficult. He has scored only 3 goals in the league playing under Mourinho and has fallen behind 35-year old Zlatan Ibrahimović in the United pecking order.

Mourinho has however defended Rashford against accusations he has struggled to make an impact this season, instead claiming that a tail-off in performances is “natural” now that he is no longer “the surprise kid”.

“I’m always happy with Marcus Rashford's contribution. He is one of those players that when he is on the pitch he tries, and he always gives something,” Mourinho, whose side entertain 10th-place Watford on Saturday, said during his weekly press conference.

“I know that last season under no pressure, last season in front of the goal, the goal was bigger. And I know this season the expectations are higher, the pressure is higher and the goal is smaller.

Mourinho has backed Rashford to improve on his recent performances next season (Man Utd via Getty Images)

"He is missing some chances because he is not any more the surprise kid. He’s not scoring as many goals as he could because he gets lots of playing time on the pitch. But it is absolutely natural in the second year after a season of explosion, then the expectation and everything changes.”

Mourinho also revealed that a comment Rashford recently made on the training pitch convinced him that the forward will go on to enjoy a fruitful third season at Old Trafford.

“He said something the other day that made me really happy,” Mourinho added. “He says he is learning so much in the technical meetings and training sessions so I think his future will be brilliant. His present is good and we need him.

“I think next season will be very, very good for Marcus because this season he is getting experience at this level of responsibility of being a professional player at a club like Manchester United.”

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has starred since fighting his was into the starting XI (Getty)

The Portuguese manager – who refused to rule out selling goalkeeper David de Gea to Real Madrid in the summer in the same news conference – also found time to laud the recent performances of Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The Armenian international endured a tough start to his Old Trafford career but has been in sensational form in recent weeks, turning in a man of the match performance in the recent 3-0 win away to Leicester.

And Mourinho has been so impressed with the 28-year old’s form that he said he has even considered playing him in defence.

“I will use him everywhere I need, I played him left back,” Mourinho joked.

“What we did last weekend is something we will try and do more and more. Start with a system, try to surprise the opponent, [so] then the team is ready to go back and to change during the match.

"He is ready, his mentality has changed and his approach has changed. He is ready to play for us.”