There's a baby-faced assassin in the red half of Manchester and he's not the one calling the shots in the dugout.

Man United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may have held that moniker dear, but a man with a precocious talent for finishing is coming for it.

There have been a number of clinical finishers in the Premier League; Fernando Torres and Sergio Aguero spring to mind. It's been a while, though, since we've seen someone with such a refined finishing ability at such a young age.

Mason Greenwood is, for all intents and purposes, the real deal. But you probably knew that already. Most of the Premier League's goalkeepers certainly do.

There was a clip I came across earlier today of Give Me Sport paying an ode to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 6, which gave Adriano near god-like skills. Adriano's shot power was a lofty 99, with a shot accuracy of 89. Yep, the Brazilian was a one-man wrecking crew in PES 6. It was very much a case of Adriano and inshallah back then, in PES 6 at least.

While that may have been a quirk of the game's founder, Mason Greenwood is a way off that rating and those abilities. It does seem pertinent, though, that the Man United youngster's finishing attributes are being hailed as a lethal weapon. And he's only 20 in October.

In recent years, we've seen a handful of teenagers come through the ranks and make a mark in the Premier League. There's Phil Foden, Man City's golden boy. There's Trent Alexander-Arnold who, at 22, is arguably the most creative right-back in world football at the moment. There's Mason Mount, fresh off a Champions League-winning campaign (and a man who played 2890 (!!!) minutes in the league last season). And there's Bukayo Saka, who's shouldering the burden of keeping Arsenal from falling off a cliff.

Like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Greenwood's talents take centre-stage quite often.

Remember that god-like Adriano shot power and accuracy we spoke about earlier? Those attributes come to the fore in two of the three goals in the clip above. Not only is Greenwood clinical to a fault, but his shot accuracy is more than impressive for someone who burst through the first-team door in 2019.

Greenwood does have a stepover in him, but he uses those to befuddle defenders who are left guessing which foot he'll shoot with. Spoiler alert: he's equally comfortable with both, but he often prefers his left. His dribbling ability is far from flashy, but he's adept at beating his man.

Over the last year, per FBref data via StatsBomb, Mason Greenwood ranks in the 81st percentile for shots created off the dribble and the 78th percentile for dribbles that lead to a goal. The Man United starlet usually uses these dribbles to get into goalscoring positions, though he isn't afraid to beat his man out wide either.

The young attacker takes shots at a high volume (2.91 per 90, 91st percentile) and manages to have a shot on target more often than not (1.08 per 90, 88th percentile). He has also laid waste to the Temple of xG in that time, preaching the gospel of Overperform and Overdeliver.

In his breakthrough season in 2019-20, Greenwood racked up an xG of 3.6. He ended up scoring (am I reading this right?) 10 goals in 12 starts and 1320 minutes of action. He evened out a bit the following season, scoring seven goals off 7.4 xG. Teenagers.

But enough with the stats. We're here for the vibes. Greenwood has ice in his veins, so he naturally has those by the boatload. An attacker comfortable on the wing, playing in a Raheem Sterling cum Marcus Rashford-esque role for Manchester United, Greenwood's natural talents are hard to miss.

Neither net nor goalkeeping finger is safe from the dual-threat that is Mason Greenwood. Usually, defenders are taught to jockey or usher the attacker out wide, far away from the goal where it's difficult for an individual to create a shot for themself. Not when it's Man United's No 11, though.

Usher Greenwood out and he'll probably do a stepover or drop a shoulder before rifling a shot through the goalkeeper's fingers the next moment. His movement is one aspect of the game he still has to work on, especially in the box, but he's more than comfortable creating a shot for himself. Once Man United start using him as more of a striker, he will need to hone that bit without dropping too deep.

Man United have most often played him on the wing, which means whenever he finds the ball, he's had to beat his man to keep the attack going. Solskjaer's attackers are less creative, more technical (Cavani, Ronaldo, Rashford, even Bruno Fernandes to an extent), leaving the Red Devils to usually rely on finishing off quick counter-attacks rather than probing in possession, though with Pogba's 2021 form the latter is also a strong possibility.

That system has seen Greenwood thrive, though Solskjaer has stated that he sees the young English forward as an out-and-out striker. I have a feeling we'll see the best of Greenwood in a two-man system rather than a tip-of-the-spear trident, given his gravity in the box and his slight frame. He does use his physicality well while shrugging off a challenge, but the physicality needed to play as an out-and-out number 9 is something he could yet develop.

At the end of the day, as long as Man United rely on counter-attacks, Greenwood and Rashford will likely be the main men. Jadon Sancho is yet to settle in and is the future of Man United along with the aforementioned duo, which means the club is in safe hands when it comes to their attacking resources for the near future.

With Ronaldo, Cavani and even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as his mentors, there's no way but up for Greenwood. As long as he doesn't hold the new No 7 up as an off-field role model, Greenwood will have a bright future. Few have lit up the Premier League at such a young age, after all. Maybe he's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline.