MANCHESTER UNITED fans have been told they already have the next Wayne Rooney on their hands.
Rooney was just 16 when he broke onto the Premier League scene for Everton – scoring a famous goal for Everton.
Two years later he joined United and an iconic career would follow – leaving as club legend and all-time top scorer.
Nowadays though the glory years at Old Trafford are long gone with the Red Devils struggling for form and in desperate need of some inspiration.
But MMA star Ibragim Ibragimov – whose three siblings all play for United – reckons his 16-year-old brother Amir as the man for the job.
Ibragimov told SunSport: “My brother is the next big thing, I’ve already said that to everybody.
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“He’s ready for the first-team, he just needs the chance. Once he gets the chance, Inshallah he will make it, 100 per cent this year.
“They are comparing him to Wayne Rooney, so he’s going to be the next Wayne Rooney. A better version than Wayne Rooney.”
Amir, 16, Gazik, 15, and Muhammad, 12, are all products of United’s youth team and touted for big futures.
Gazik once played with Cristiano Ronaldo’s son while Wayne Rooney’s eldest Kai is an academy team-mate.
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And even Old Trafford icon Sir Alex Ferguson has given his endorsement to Amir, who has also scored for England at Under-16 level.
Ibragimov said: “They need young fresh blood. They need more academy players.
“They have a lot of academy players at the moment, really good, like dark horses and they’re on the bench.
“Some of the guys on the bench already, some of the guys are playing for the academy, they got a good team.
“So yeah, hopefully they have youngsters play for the first team and then they’ll show the levels of Manchester.”
Ibragimov moved from Dagestan – where UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov hailed – to Manchester aged 13.
And the 20-year-old was a talented footballer himself landing trials at Man City and Sheffield United – before focussing on just MMA.
He said: “I used to play football. I think if I would have come to the UK a little earlier, I would’ve made it to a football 100 per cent.
“I was doing both, doing well, so I could’ve done the football and I obviously I decided to do MMA.
“I don’t know, but sometimes on a deep weight cause I’m thinking, ‘I should have done football!’
“Because the way my brother live, all they need is just train, eat, sleep, repeat, all they need, they, they don’t need anything else.
“They get good food. They don’t have to go away. They just need to train.
“They say concentrate, focus, and then just go out there on the stadium and then play and enjoy this enjoy themselves.”
Ibragimov is 8-0 in the cage and returns on Saturday in Dubai against 5-1 Irishman Kenny Mokhonoana.
And the avid United fan has vowed to finally give Red Devils fans something to cheer about.
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He said: “All the guys from Manchester who supported me, I appreciate everything.
“Guys, just keep watching on 25th of January I’ll bring the win for Manchester and Manchester United.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
