Nicky Butt Compares Marcus Rashford to Thierry Henry, Talks Angel Gomes, More

Manchester United legend Nicky Butt believes it will be "impossible" to hold Marcus Rashford back from establishing himself in the Red Devils first team and compared him to former Arsenal star Thierry Henry.

Having burst onto the scene with a double on debut under former manager Louis van Gaal last season, United youth graduate Rashford, 18, has passed every test put in front of him, most recently netting a hat-trick on his debut for the England under-21 side, per Bleacher Report UK:

In 2016-17, under new manager Jose Mourinho, Rashford has played only 19 minutes of Premier League football—coming off the bench to score the winner against Hull City—but Butt, now head of coaching at United's academy, is adamant Rashford will force his way into the side, per Henry Winter in the Times:

"

Marcus will get opportunities in the first team because he’s that good. Lee Sharpe was the best player in the country, as a youngster, but you couldn’t hold Ryan Giggs back much longer. Here it’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial or whoever's up top. If Marcus keeps doing what he’s doing with his pace and directness, it's impossible to hold him back.

"

The 41-year-old Butt also said Rashford is not an out-and-out striker and agreed with a comparison to Henry, who used to devastate opposition defences cutting in from the flanks: 

"

He wasn’t a centre forward as a youngster; he probably developed into that more out of necessity last season than design. He actually was on the left. I believe his best position is off the side. Yes [he's like Henry]. Blistering pace. When Marcus runs at you, you can’t stop him.

"

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Concerns were raised upon Mourinho's appointment as Van Gaal's successor as United manager that the Portuguese's history of not promoting youth went against the Red Devils' proud history of developing youngsters.

Butt himself was a United youth product and—along with fellow academy graduates David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Gary and Phil Neville—part of Sir Alex Ferguson's famed Class of '92 that went on to win the treble in 1999.

Remarkably, Rashford's winning goal against Hull in United's last game marked a significant milestone for Mourinho in terms of young players he has managed, per Opta:

However, Butt understands that Mourinho must re-establish United as a title-winning club before he can start promoting any of his academy players into the first team:

"

The pathway for the next year, 18 months, two years maybe, might not be there for [the academy players]. But, if I'm honest, if I'm manager of that team I wouldn’t give them a pathway straightaway because we need to get back to winning ways. We need [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, [Paul] Pogba, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Eric] Bailly and [Michael] Carrick, players who know how to win, to get us back to winning ways. The manager's one of the best ever, he's got to get his team winning before he introduces the players. Youngsters who go into a struggling team can die.

"

One of the most highly rated players Butt has in his charge is 16-year-old Angel Gomes, and the former midfielder said he is "a young talented player we've massive hopes for."

Gomes netted a hat-trick recently for United's under-18 side against Everton in a 5-1 win and was on the scoresheet again as the young Red Devils handed a similar drubbing to Middlesbrough:

Buying established talent is an absolute necessity to succeed in modern football, and United did huge business in the recent summer transfer market, breaking the world-record transfer fee to buy Pogba back from Juventus and bringing in Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Bailly.

But Rashford's fledgling brilliance in the first team—and potentially that of Gomes—and Butt's faith that he will succeed is proof for United and other top clubs that there is still value to be found closer to home.