Mason Greenwood's "eyes light up" around "fantastic role model" Edinson Cavani

Mason Greenwood's "eyes light up" around veteran striker Edinson Cavani as he continues to impress at Manchester United.

Greenwood has thrived in recent years at United, becoming one of the deadliest young strikers in Europe and that's only been helped by "fantastic role model" Cavani.

The Uruguayan has taken "Mason under his wing" and done all he can to help the talented attacker flourish.

The two have a "great relationship" with a clear respect and admiration of one another.

Cavani has taken to the teacher role well, helping Greenwood improve crucial parts of his game like scoring in and around the six-yard box as well as advice on his movement.

( Image:

PA)

Assistant first-team coach Kieran McKenna wrote about watching Greenwood develop from a small U13s player to the talent he is today.

He said: "I think Mason's eyes light up when you speak to him about Edinson or when you see the two of them working together.

"There's a clear respect and admiration on Mason's side. I think Edinson's been great in terms of taking Mason under his wing and seeing a talented kid there who can go on and achieve great things.

"So that's been really beneficial. We can see, as a staff, improvement in certain areas, like his movement in the box, anticipating things, trying to get in there for the tap-ins and rebounds in the six-yard box and I think a big part of that is having such a good role model, day to day, to watch."

As well as benefitting from the presence of Cavani, McKenna noted having a former attacker as his manager has helped Greenwood too.

Solskjaer is thought to have worked extensively with United's attackers on the training field passing on his knowledge.

McKenna also noted how the likes of Cavanai - and now Ronaldo - prepare themselves for matches and their professional approach to training will rub off on Greenwood.

Now the target is for the youngster to develop the skills in holding off opponents with his back to goal that Cavani has down to a fine art.

Mason Greenwood admits all of the young strikers look up to Edinson Cavani ( Image:

Pool via REUTERS)

Greenwood has largely been used on the right of United's attack though has shone when played through the middle and general consensus is he will eventually become a lead central striker.

Giving his view on what Greenwood needs to take from Cavani's game, McKenna feels his ability to battle for the ball in the air is a key element, as well as his intelligence in the box.

"His willingness to be in where it hurts, his willingness to be making runs in the six-yard box, to get across defenders, to move, to anticipate, to be there for the rebounds.

"There are numerous examples last year of Edinson scoring that type of goal and we see it every day in training. He's the same, so it's a great relationship really."

McKenna spotlighted a specific game from last season where Manchester United beat Tottenham.

He called it "one of his [Greenwood's] most promising games" and as well as netting himself later on, he set up Cavani with a brilliant early cross.

Cavani could be seen earlier in the game telling Greenwood to get the ball in quicker, and it soon led to a goal.

Alongside benefitting from the veteran Cavani, Greenwood also has Ronaldo to help improve his game.

However, some worry the Portuguese's arrival will cause Greenwood to lose game time at such an important stage of his career.

Time will tell.