Marcus Rashford was delighted to see Shola Shoretire make his professional debut against Newcastle United at Old Trafford on Sunday night.

The Anglo-Nigerian replaced Rashford in the 89th minute for his senior bow and became the second youngest United player in history to debut in the Premier League in the process, aged 17 years and 19 days.

The England international striker noted that he was older than Shoretire when he played his first competitive game for Manchester United's first team against Danish opponents Midtjylland.

"It is a top moment and he is even younger than I was [when I made my debut]," Marcus told MUTV.

"When young players do make their debut, eventually they actually kick on from that and hopefully we will see the same from him and we see him out on the pitch many more times.

"He is a player who has a lot of quality and the more he trains with us and plays with us, the more he’ll relax and show his quality."

He continued : "In the Academy they always emphasise following in the footsteps of others. It is something I always acknowledged as a young lad. I took it on and wanted to get into the first team and follow in the footsteps of other attacking players and Academy players who had made the step up into the first team."

"It is just a cycle and hopefully the ones who are his age now will see him playing and they will kick on and hopefully we get more and more of them."

Shoretire would be the youngest player to feature for Manchester United in European competition if he is involved in Thursday's Europa League round of 32 second leg against Real Sociedad, overtaking the great Norman Whiteside.

Igho Kingsley