Andy Cole, a player who won a cabinet full of trophies during his career at Manchester United, has given his verdict on the current crop of stars at Old Trafford, how they compare to his former teammates, including star striker Marcus Rashford, and provides his assessment on whether or not they can keep up with the pace this season and beyond.
State of Play -
Despite hailing the job that manager Erik Ten Hag has done this season as "fantastic", Cole warned that his former side "should not get carried away", as he believes that their competitors have so far been below their usual high standards and that the league table may not reflect the true story. He said:
"Liverpool and Tottenham have been terrible this season, Manchester City have not been themselves, Arsenal have been okay, if these teams really turned up, what would the league table really look like?"
And though Cole has been impressed by what he has seen of summer signing Casemiro, he believes that Manchester United will need to go back into the market this year to maintain their recent improvement and excel further:
"With Manchester United, they need to keep this consistency and add more quality in the summer, everyone will be going for similar players in the market. Will Manchester United win the league next season? It will be very tough. Within time, the improvement in quality at Manchester United will come."
Marcus v Messi -
Whilst recognising the current blistering form of Rashford, Cole said that there is nothing that the England striker could do to eclipse Lionel Messi and take home this year's FIFA Ballon d'Or as the decision is rarely made on domestic competitions and is likely to already be wrapped up, saying:
"Marcus Rashford won't be competing for the Ballon d'Or even if he kept his form until the end of the season. We all know who will be winning the Ballon d'Or.
"The Ballon d'Or is usually based on Champions Leagues and in this instance, World Cups. If Lionel Messi does not win the Ballon d'Or for finally winning the World Cup for Argentina, I'd be very surprised, but Kylian Mbappe has a chance too."
Trebling Times -
Cole also backed the comments recently made by his former strike partner at Manchester United, Dwight Yorke who stated that Rashford would not feature in Sir Alex Ferguson's treble-winning side from 1999 as he would not displace either Ryan Giggs or David Beckham.
Questioning if Rashford would even make the squad of the record-breaking team, 51-year-old Cole didn't hold back, saying:
"I agree with Dwight Yorke, Marcus Rashford on current form would not make it into the treble starting XI and maybe the bench. In front of Ryan Giggs or David Beckham?
"Even in this sparkling form, unfortunately not. If you took out Giggs or Beckham, then Rashford would probably get into the team, but our team had so much quality. Rashford would definitely not make it into the treble team."
Recent signing from Real Madrid, and another star performer this season Casemiro, was also the focus of Cole's attention when comparing United's current crop of talent with that of the 1999 squad, declaring that the Brazilian would only have been fit to be a substitute.
"Casemiro would not make it in front of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes or Nicky Butt. Casemiro is a fantastic player, but would I play him in front of Keane or Scholes? No. He would make the bench."
But Cole was keen to express his admiration for Casemiro, despite him feeling he would not offer that which his former teammates could have done, saying that,
He's made a massive improvement to Manchester United since he's joined and I really like the player."
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