Former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall has backed fellow Welshman Daniel James to become a Manchester United great following his debut goal against Chelsea.
The pacy winger, still just 21 years of age, was one of just three new arrivals at Old Trafford and while the other two – Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka – were thrust into the action from the start, James was introduced as a second-half substitute.
However, he rounded off the scoring as Paul Pogba played him in to make it 4-0 and compounded Chelsea’s misery.
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And Southall thinks his fearless, direct running is sure to make his countryman a success at United, particularly given his national team manager is Ryan Giggs, a Red Devils legend himself.
“[Daniel James] is playing like a kid with no fear and if he can carry it on, he’ll be fantastic,” Southall told VoucherCodes.co.uk
“At the moment he is sort of naive, but he’s gone in and he’s done what he needed to do. I think if he can carry on playing with freedom like Ryan [Giggs] did, then I think he’ll be great.
“It is really good that he has a manager like Ryan at Wales. I think he’ll be the type of player that Old Trafford give a standing ovation to because he’s positive and he’s quick.
“It’s going to be interesting with Wales, as he becomes more prominent and with Gareth [Bale] being 30-odd, the roles might reverse. At the moment he is one among many and once you become like Ryan [Giggs] or Gareth [Bale], you have to deal with the other stuff football throws at you and it’s whether he will be up to the challenge.
“If he can become the main man and deal with everything thrown at him then that will be great for Wales and great for Manchester United and to be fair it would be great for football.”
Manchester United face a tough trip to Molineux to face Wolves in their next Premier League fixture, and James will be hoping he has done enough to earn himself a start.