Solskjaer offers insight into Man Utd quartet’s close ties with Cavani

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says that four of his players are key to helping Edinson Cavani break down the English language barrier.

Spanish-speaking Uruguayan Cavani knows French and Italian, but has not learnt proper English.

Indeed, he only moved to United in October and the Covid-19 pandemic has restricted his access to suitable tutoring.

But amid the 33-year-old‘s immediate impact at Old Trafford, Solskjaer has revealed how Cavani can play a key mentoring role off the pitch.

“I see the players talk to each other all the time and, of course, Edinson with his experience, can be really helpful. And he is there as a back-up, he is there as a mentor,” Solskjaer said (via the Manchester Evening News).

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Marcus [Rashford] or Dan [James] or Anthony [Martial] or Mason [Greenwood] , they have all got things to learn from Edinson and the more humble and hungry you are to listen the better you will become.

“Edinson has been in every single position to score a goal or to win the ball back throughout his career and there is so much for them to learn from him.”

Solskjaer then revealed that Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Bruno Fernandes and Nemanja Matic have so far helped Cavani express his thoughts and feelings to his colleagues.

“The football language is one common language,” the Norwegian manager said.

“He has learnt the most important words. He can’t sit down and do the long analysis with players but we have Juan, Nemanja, Bruno, Paul.

“They help out and do the translation at times, and fair play to them that they spend time when they have meetings, or unit meetings or squad meetings, if there is something he wants to lay across, he is never shy to lay his message across and the players help.

“Some of the coaches speak the language, of course, as well. I don’t, unfortunately. I regret in my school days not learning Spanish, so that German doesn’t help me a lot here in England!”

Cavani knows French from his illustrious spell at Paris Saint-Germain, so France international Pogba has helped in that sense.

Meanwhile, Spaniard Mata and Matic, who has spent a lot of time in teams where Spanish is the primary language, have also proved key.

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