Manchester United youngster Zidane Iqbal says he looked up to Angel Gomes and Paul Scholes when he was coming up through the youth ranks at the club.
The 19-year-old was the breakthrough star for United during their pre-season tour in the summer and has been permanently promoted to the first team under manager Erik ten Hag.
Iqbal still has plenty of work to do before he can become a regular for the United side, but he is gradually improving every day and gaining priceless experience from being involved in the senior set-up.
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A big task for the young midfielder will be adapting to the physicality of first-team football, an issue that United coaches have carefully prepared him for throughout his development.
Despite his enormous talent, Iqbal was often played at a younger age-group in the academy to help him harness his technical ability without being bullied off the ball.
It was a tough reality for him to accept, but he says he was always looking up to Gomes and Scholes, who had also made the grade despite being played down throughout their development.
"The coaches mentioned Angel Gomes to me. Look at him now, playing for Lille in the Champions League," Iqbal told club media.
"They mentioned Paul Scholes but they’re obviously the players who played down and have gone on to do well. Obviously, other players have played down and their careers have not gone as successfully as they wanted it to.
"But I knew I could make the situation really good by looking up to players like Scholes and Angel, if they played down. I look at it as a positive, they’re doing it to better you, so that’s what I did and it helped me a lot."
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