Manchester United treble winner Andy Cole insists neither Marcus Rashford nor Casemiro would get into the 1999 starting line-up despite their brilliant current form.
Rashford is undoubtedly enjoying the best form of his career at United, with 16 goals in 17 games since returning from the World Cup more than anyone else across Europe's top five leagues. The forward's purple patch has taken him to 24 for the season - already a record for him with more than three months to spare.
Casemiro has been pivotal to the turn of fortunes that has seen Erik ten Hag's side go from consecutive defeats against Brighton and Brentford to a likely third-placed finish and the chance at silverware in the Carabao Cup this Sunday. The Brazilian, who turned 31 on Thursday, has brought leadership and experience to a squad that has lacked such qualities for so long.
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But despite the form of both, to get into the famous 1999 treble-winning team would take some doing, and Cole believes the pair would be good enough only for the bench - agreeing with ex-teammate Dwight Yorke who said the same thing earlier this month.
"I agree with Dwight Yorke, Marcus Rashford on current form would not make it into the treble starting XI and maybe the bench," Cole told Best Sports Betting Canada. "In front of Ryan Giggs or David Beckham? Even in this sparkling form, unfortunately not.
"If you took out Giggs or Beckham, then Rashford would probably get into the team, but our team had so much quality. Rashford would definitely not make it into the treble team.
"Casemiro would not make it in front of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes or Nicky Butt. Casemiro is a fantastic player, but would I play him in front of Keane or Scholes? No. He would make the bench. He's made a massive improvement to Manchester United since he's joined and I really like the player."
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