Ralf Rangnick's concerns about Wout Weghorst were more than justified as Manchester United dropped points against Burnley in disappointing fashion on Tuesday night.
Paul Pogba scored his first goal of the season to give the Red Devils an early lead but Weghorst, 29, assisted Jay Rodriguez shortly after half-time and the Premier League clash ended all square.
Rangnick went out of his way to highlight the threat Weghorst poses ahead of the match having come up against the Dutch colossus during his time as RB Leipzig boss.
Burnley signed the 6'6" frontman for £12million in the January transfer window after he scored 70 times during an eye-catching three-and-a-half years with Wolfsburg.
While he is still waiting for his first Clarets goal, Weghorst produced an all-action display against United which included five duels won and three shots, the most of any player.
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Crucially, he also turned Harry Maguire to set up Rodriguez for the equaliser in the 47th minute, proving he is far more than a stationary target man.
Weghorst certainly lived up to his pre-match billing from Rangnick, who ever compared him to Liverpool 's all-time record goalscorer, Ian Rush.
"He looks with his size, a little bit like Ian Rush, for example, but he's a very technical player," the interim boss told United's website.
"Due to his size, he is also physically present but he’s not that much of a physical target striker.
"He is more of a technical player. Also, he had good times at Wolfsburg when Oliver Glasner was head coach, he did extremely well and scored quite a few goals.
"Hopefully, [on Tuesday], he won't score. He played against Watford and I obviously watched that game on TV. I thought he was a good signing and one of the best possible signings to replace [Chris] Wood."
Burnley sold Wood, 30, to Newcastle last month for £25million in a move which strengthened their rivals for Premier League survival.
But their successful pursuit of Weghorst for half that sum is already looking like fine business which will bolster Sean Dyche's side for the run-in.
The Clarets remain rooted to the bottom of the table despite their point against United, having won just one game all season.
However, they have two games in hand on the other teams in the relegation zone as well as 17th-placed Newcastle.
Dyche has proved himself a master of dragging his side out of tight spots in recent seasons and few English fans could be confident of ruling Burnley out of a late surge up the table.
