Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has said what he has learnt from Zlatan Ibrahimovic this season has been “irreplaceable”.
Ibrahimovic, 35, arrived at Old Trafford last summer tasked with firing United to honours while acting as a mentor to the club’s younger players.
Having scored 28 goals in all competitions to guide United to the League Cup, Europa League semi-finals, and into contention for the Premier League top four, Ibrahimovic was an unqualified success before a cruciate knee ligament injury ruled him out for the rest of the season.
However, the former Sweden captain’s influence has not been limited to the pitch, with Rashford one of the key benefactors of Ibrahimovic’s arrival.
"His influence on the younger players, especially, is fantastic," Rashford told The Daily Telegraph.
“You will see the benefits in years to come. What I have learnt from him is irreplaceable.”
Ibrahimovic’s arrival has meant a change in position for Rashford, who has found himself played out wide to accommodate the former Paris Saint-Germain striker.
The 19-year-old England international’s goalscoring was affected as a result, but he has insisted that he has adjusted and become a more well-rounded player.
“For me the development has been going great all the way through,” Rashford said.
“I didn’t feel uncomfortable in the wide role, but when something is different it takes a while to get used to it.
“You look at all the strikers in the world now, I can only think of two, three who are No 9s — [Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry] Kane, [Bayern Munich’s Robert] Lewandowski, [Barcelona’s Luis] Suarez. The qualities a striker needs now are different to what they used to be.”
After scoring the extra-time winner in the Europa League quarter-final against Anderlecht on Thursday, Rashford was rested for the 2-0 Premier League win over Burnley on Sunday.
He is expected to be restored to the line-up when United travel to the Etihad Stadium to face rivals Manchester City on Thursday.
United are fifth in the league, trailing fourth-placed City by one point in the race for a Uefa Champions league qualifying spot.
* Reuters
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
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CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
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