Marcus Rashford has admitted that it was hard not to pay attention to Thierry Henry at his best for Arsenal during his childhood. 

The Manchester United striker is now regarded as one of the most promising youngsters in world football after breaking into the Red Devils’ first team under former Red Devils’ boss Louis van Gaal.

Rashford, who scored his first ever Premier League goal against Arsenal last season, has revealed he was actually inspired by one of the Gunners’ club legends.

In a candid interview with Sky Sports ahead of the weekend, the 18-year-old admitted that he takes Henry’s opinion about him seriously.

“Thierry Henry is one of my heroes, he is one of the players I watched when I was younger. When I was 17 I changed position to be a forward and he, along with the Brazilian Ronaldo, were the two players I tried to mirror my performance on so I would watch how they scored goals.” Rashford said

“He [Henry] was definitely one of the major players. It’s crazy when you think about it, he knows who I am and it’s very strange.

“You see ex-professionals talking about you, players you think would never know you, so it’s different but when you hear these things from those types of people it just gives you so much more confidence and belief that you can go on and achieve more.”

When asked about how he derailed Arsenal’s title hopes at Old Trafford in February, the youngster did not hide his delight.

“It was an amazing feeling. Arsenal is a big game and the goals were so close together that everything happened so fast. We went in 2-1 up at half-time and you knew it was a good game.” Rashford added

Be the first to receive breaking news about Arsenal!