Mason Greenwood offers exciting glimpse into Manchester United's future as Solskjaer predicts he will 'have a very big career'

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is convinced Manchester United have found a future star in teenage striker Mason Greenwood after he gave another glimpse of his potential against Partizan Belgrade.

The 18-year-old started on the right of an attacking trio, behind main striker Anthony Martial and terrorised the Partizan defence, opening the scoring with a crisp, clinical finish.

One of the main reasons for Solskjaer’s reluctance to bring in another experienced forward to replace Alexis Sanchez was the desire to give Greenwood more first team experience, although he is wary of asking too much too soon.

Greenwood has not always looked comfortable in the Premier League and although he delivered his best performance to date against Partizan, the teenager is likely to be back on the bench against Brighton.

“Mason is going to have a very big career,” said Solskjaer, at the end of a match that backed his claim the team are coming back into some form.

“But sometimes is not the right time to play him. He knows why he hasn’t played as much. We’re taking our time with him.

“It’s been a difficult period. Anthony has been away, to put all the weight on his shoulder wasn’t right either. I think we are finding the right balance between playing him, resting him and training him.

“He needs to learn the man’s game. He’s gone up from the under 18s last year, now he’s training with the first team every day and you can’t just turn that switch on and off. You’ve got to perform every day if you are going to be accepted by a group like this.

“He is definitely one option on the right. I rested Dan [James] tonight because he’s played too much football for my liking, so maybe Mason hasn’t played enough, but I think we will see a top, top player there one day.”

United will go into the Brighton game with confidence restored after the shock defeat to Bournemouth last weekend and they have generally played their best football in the cup competitions rather than the league.

Solskjaer cannot explain why, instead warning there are likely to be more dips and disappointments ahead because they remain a team in transition, with plenty more improvements needed.

“Sometimes you get that [inconsistency] with a young team, which we have,” said Solskjaer, whose team sit tenth in the table. “And we’ve suffered with injuries, which has made it even younger.

“Even against Partizan, the last half an hour was sloppy. We are still not consistent enough in our performances from game to game or within the game. But that will come. It keeps improving and I think when we get through this the boys will have learned a lot.

“You always get assessed on results now, but the DNA of this club – and it’s always been in our philosophy to give young players, with the right attitude, a chance and if that takes a couple of years for him [Greenwood] to really, really come through, it’s worth it for us.

“If he’d really stamped his authority in training every single day and been the best option, he would have played every game. But as a young boy you expect ups and downs and he’s had some downs. I think he is on his way up again.”