Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer compares Mason Greenwood to Ryan Giggs as he rules out loan exit

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Manchester United have unearthed their latest gem after Mason Greenwood further enhanced his reputation with the winner here in Singapore.

The 17-year-old scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 victory against Inter Milan, which prompted his manager to raise comparisons with Ryan Giggs.

Solskjaer dismissed any chance of sending Greenwood out on loan – insisting United simply can’t afford to let him go.

He is convinced the teenager could be the surprise package of the season and is ready to unleash him on Chelsea in the opening game of the campaign in three weeks’ time.

Solskjaer said: “Mason’s never been on my mind to send out on loan.

"He’s one that we have to keep at our place, keep him playing when we feel it’s good for him and at the moment he’s flying.

“He reminds me a little bit of the Giggsy story - you can’t really send him on loan and for me he’s ready to be in this squad.”

Greenwood scored his second goal in as many games when shuffling on the right of the box before firing past Samir Handanovic after 75 minutes.

It was further evidence of the remarkable potential that was the talk of United long before he got close to the first team.

“The kid’s only 17 and he’s learning every day, training with these boys,” Solskjaer added.

“He’s been with us the last few months and he’s grown in confidence, he’s grown in stature and I said before when you’ve got players who perform it’s difficult to keep them out.

“But we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground with him, know that he’s only 17 and there will be ups and downs, but he’s enjoying his football.”

Greenwood is typical of the type of fast, mobile forward Solskjaer wants to build his team around, with Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Daniel James key to his plans.

And on the day that United rejected a £54million bid from Inter for Romelu Lukaku, Solskjaer indicated for the first time that the Belgium international doesn’t fit the style he plans to implement.

“I think we have done really well without Romelu,” he said. “But we all know he’s one of the top, top strikers in the world, the number nines.

"We’ve played a different way maybe with Anthony, Marcus, Mason, so you adapt to the players who are available.

“The mindset was really good, we were on the front foot pressing when we can, high energy, intensity.

"The first half, with all the pressing we did, maybe we lacked a bit of quality in the last third, the last pass, the last finish.

"But when the second XI came on they even upped the level and it was great to see, we could have had two or three more goals.

“We’re getting better and better, definitely. We’ve had three weeks now in pre-season working on the intensity and pressing in training.

“We’ve got players who like to press on the front foot, I don’t know how many times Jesse won the ball for us, but he’s one of the best ones in that pressing football and Marcus is also very good at it.

“And you saw Anthony working hard to win a few balls for us as well so that’s the way we hope to continue.”