Neville: Richardson can learn from Giggs

Gary Neville (pictured) has predicted a bright future for Manchester United starlet Kieran Richardson – providing he follows the example set by Ryan Giggs.

Gary Neville has predicted a bright future for Manchester United starlet Kieran Richardson – providing he follows the example set by Ryan Giggs.

Eighteen-year-old Richardson was snapped up from the West Ham academy a couple of seasons ago and is already looking likely to emulate another capital kid David Beckham and become a regular for club and country.

After making his first start for the Red Devils against Maccabi Haifa last week, Richardson grabbed his debut goal for the club to wrap up the 2-0 Worthington Cup triumph over Leicester.

Even manager Sir Alex Ferguson marvelled at the youngster’s bravery as he met Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s inswinging cross with a diving header a minute from time.

But it merely confirmed the lofty expectations surrounding the confident Greenwich-born player.

Neville has now seen him operate at close quarters twice in a week and, after equally impressive stints in training, believes he has a bright future - providing he watches Giggs.

“Kieran has got the best left-winger in the world to learn from,” the England full-back told www.manutd.com

“He needs to watch Ryan very carefully over the next couple of months and if he does that, he’s definitely got a chance because he has shown in his training sessions with us that he has plenty of ability.

“It wasn’t a typical left winger’s goal but it was brave of him to be running into the box and getting his head on the end of the cross.”

United’s passage into the last 16 means Richardson has almost guaranteed himself an appearance in the fourth round next month, although he will have to accept that even his progress is unlikely to be as rapid as that which Giggs enjoyed over a decade ago.

The majority of his football this term will be played under reserve team coach Mike Phelan, who like Neville, thinks he has a possible star on his hands.

“Kieran is young and new to the club but he is learning very quickly,” said the former United midfielder.

“He is a creative midfield player who is very quick and has good endurance. He’s still quite slight and it’s early in his development as a footballer but there are already some positive signs.”

Meanwhile, Neville still feels the Old Trafford outfit must rediscover their cutting edge if they are to challenge for major honours this season.

Despite dominating much of last night’s encounter, it needed a fortuitous penalty award 10 minutes from time to give skipper David Beckham the chance to put United in front, although Leicester had escaped a far more convincing shout in the opening seconds when Solskjaer went down under pressure from Frank Sinclair.

Ruud van Nistelrooy should be back for Saturday’s final Maine Road derby but with just 16 goals from 12 Premiership outings so far this season, United cannot afford to rely solely on the big Dutchman.

“Most of our play is good but we need to be more ruthless in front of goal,” said Neville.

“Maybe we are not getting the breaks and finishing teams off in the first half of games but it’s not through the want of trying.

“Right now we’re having to work hard to win every game. In a way that’s good, as that means we’re keeping going to the final whistle and having to defend well too.

“I’m sure that as soon as we kick into gear and the chances start going in then we’ll be back to normal.”

There was some bad news for Neville’s brother Phil though, who picked up his fifth booking of the campaign which will rule him out of the Old Trafford encounter with Newcastle on November 23.