Forward Marcus Rashford 'wants more' at Manchester United - but says he is living to dream playing for his home-town club.
And the Wythenshawe-born forward says he intends to get better and better after being alerted to the fact he is the player Jose Mourinho has used most since taking over at Old Trafford.
Speculation has grown that the England striker could leave the club after seeing his opportunities restricted by the arrival of Alexis Sanchez and the form of Romelu Lukaku.
That spiraled when he played just eight minutes of Saturday's Manchester derby win with reports claiming he was unhappy.
Arsenal have been installed as 5/1 favorites to land him should he depart - and Gunners legend Ian Wright believes he should look elsewhere for more playing time.
He told Sky Sports: “He’s ambitious and he wants to play as well. The mere fact he might be thinking about leaving United to get more game time is a good thing.
“If he has another season where he has to be on the sidelines like he is now and be used as sparingly as he is, what about his progression as a player?
“He could play for anyone at the moment especially in the top four.”
Rashford is, in fact, Mourinho's most-used player - with 97 appearances as a starter or substitute - since the Portuguese's summer 2016 arrival at Old Trafford.
“I wasn’t aware of it before I saw it and it’s something to be proud of,” the 20-year-old told Inside United.
“But we always want more and we always want to show progression individually and as a team, so the numbers don’t really matter as much as the results do to me.”
And, asked how much he values playing for his home-town team, Rashford added: “A lot of people have that dream, so you’re not only doing it for you; you’re doing it for a lot of people that you might not even know, but there are a lot of people who had the dream of playing for their local team when they were young.
“So I think you are playing not only for yourself and for the club, but for all the people that are living that dream through you.”
Mourinho recently snapped at unsuccessful former Crystal Palace boss Frank de Boer after he suggested he was the wrong manager for Rashford.
“I read something, some quote from the worst manager in the history of the Premier League, Frank de Boer, saying it’s not good for Rashford to have a coach like me,” Mourinho said last month.
“If he was coached by Frank he would be coached how to lose because he lost every game [at Palace].
“If you go to his numbers and how many games he played with me. I would say he was in the top five with more matches for two seasons.
“Marcus is having these experiences. I’m really happy too. He plays for United many matches, he starts some comes from the bench for others. Does he play every match from the start? No.
“Of course not. He’s a player we trust. Not many were expecting him to start against Liverpool and he had a good match not just about scoring goals. I’m really happy with Marcus.”
M.E.N.