Manchester United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has admitted that he welcomes the plaudits he has earned from the likes of James Maddison and Wilfried Zaha in recent months.
The defender, whose future at Old Trafford was under serious threat last summer, has resurrected his United career in recent months, establishing himself as one of manager Erik ten Hag's most consistent performers since the World Cup break. He has moved ahead of Diogo Dalot in the battle for the right-back berth and has earned plenty of recognition.
The former Crystal Palace ace was excellent during last Sunday's FA Cup semi-final triumph over Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley, expertly dealing with the threat of winger Kaoru Mitoma. He kept the Japanese international at arm's length and did not allow him to weave his magic.
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Unsurprisingly, the defender was hailed by United's fans for his outstanding performance. He, too, also deserved special praise from Leicester City ace Maddison, who took to social media at the end of regulation time to wax lyrical about his showing.
Maddison tweeted: "AWB is ridiculously good at one-v-one defending. Probably the best in the world bar none. So many wingers run out of ideas when playing directly against him."
Wan-Bissaka has since been asked about Maddison's praise, admitting that he only saw the England international's comments when scrolling through social media.
Wan-Bissaka, speaking to Sky Sports, said: "I just ran into it [the tweet]. I think it was on SPORTbible, I ran into it, saw it and didn't know if it was real or not!
"Those were nice words from him, you know, and it was spiriting to see things like that that people notice."
Maddison was not the first Premier League player to hail Wan-Bissaka this season. Former United winger Zaha, following the Reds' 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park back in January, praised his former Palace team-mate for an expertly-timed scoop tackle that denied him the chance, late on, to snatch all three points for the home side.
Zaha, speaking at the time, said: "Any other player [I would have got away from]. As I was running through, I had a little look back and thought, 'Oh my God, it's Aaron'.
"He is the only one that can do that scoop tackle. Yes, it was a great tackle."
Wan-Bissaka admits that he and Zaha joked about the incident following the full-time whistle.
"We did, yes," added the United defender. "I saw him in the car park.
"It just brought back memories from when I was there and we used to have our battles in training. It was good to hear praises from him as well."
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