Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped Giuseppe Rossi to be his new Paul Scholes.
Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped Giuseppe Rossi to be his new Paul Scholes.The diminutive Italian is just starting to make the breakthrough into United's first team - having bagged his first Premiership goal earlier this season.
Hopes are high at Old Trafford that Rossi - signed from Parma in 2004 - is the genuine article and could soon be a regular in the first team.
Rossi arrived as a striker and was originally likened to Gary Lineker, but Ferguson is already thinking that the US-born starlet could very well develop into an attacking midfielder in the mould of Scholes.
"Giuseppe Rossi is the most natural goalscorer we've had come through this club since Paul Scholes, no question about that," said Ferguson.
"He's a wonderful finisher. He's not dissimilar to Paul in a way because when Paul first came to the club, he was a centre forward too.
"Then he started to learn the game and dropped into deep positions behind the strikers and scored a heap of goals for the youth teams.
"Giuseppe can play right through, like Paul, and can also drop in. But the big similarity between them is Giuseppe's cool head in the box.
"He's such a terrific finisher and that's something you can't teach. You can coach some things every day of the week, but some are just naturally gifted."
Rossi is expected to start only his second senior game on Wednesday when United entertain West Brom in the Carling Cup.
