Rene Meulensteen raises eyebrows as he compares Manchester United's Jesse Lingard to Andres Iniesta

As part of a feature on Lingard for the latest edition of United's matchday programme, Meulensteen - who served as Sir Alex Ferguson's first-team coach for six years - offered his opinion that the 22-year-old can develop into the club's answer to one of Barcelona's greatest ever midfielders.

"I see him as the English version of Iniesta," Meulensteen told United Review, when asked about Lingard.

"He has still got a long way to go but that is the sort of player I see in him."

Meulensteen's comment provoked an immediate reaction among some fans, considering he was comparing a man who has so far managed just six games for United with a player who has won everything the game has to offer at club and international level.

Lingard has enjoyed a rapid rise this season, being included in the England squad for the first time for the recent friendly against France - hot on the heels of his first goal for United as the club beat West Brom at the start of November.

"It feels like [in] a month everything has changed!" Lingard said. "Apparently I was on standby [for England] but I didn’t know. I got the call Saturday night and went down. I’m not going to turn that down. It’s a massive honour to get called up by England and it is just a shame I did not get any minutes.

"It was just being around and seeing how they were doing. It was similar to here. It would have been great to have played but I’ll see them next time.

‘Roy Hodgson said I was there on merit having done well for Manchester United and hopefully I can be there.’"

The winger is now focused on continuing his good form for his club, and help them remain in the Premier League title race heading into the new year.

"We have a lot of injuries now so we have to adapt to that,’ he added. "As long as we get enough wins as we can over Christmas that’s the main thing."