Benni McCarthy has impressed during his short coaching spell with Man Utd.

Premier League cult hero Benni McCarthy has enjoyed a successful return to England with Manchester United this season. The South African football icon was appointed as a striker coach by Erik ten Hag in the summer and has overseen the remarkable improvement of Marcus Rashford.

McCarthy’s appointment was a slight surprise. The 45-year-old had been working as head coach of AmaZulu in his home country. But his influence has been praised by Ten Hag.

The Dutchman recently explained: “In our coaching staff, we had a lot of defenders and midfield players. I wanted also to find a good balance. He is offensive [minded] as he is a former striker and that is also a really specific job task in the team. I never played there, so I’m [always] lucky to have someone in my staff who played there.

“Football is about scoring and you have a goalkeeping specialist, but you also have offensive specialists and in particular we have a specific scoring trainer. He has to add that, in details, working and for the rest of us he has a relationship to all the players in our squad. He also has to work on the togetherness and he is doing a great job on that.”

McCarthy had a meteoric rise to the Premier League as a player. After making his debut in South Africa, the striker had European spells with Ajax, Celta Vigo and Porto – where he won the Champions League – before joining Blackburn in 2006.

He scored 52 goals in 140 games for Rovers before enduring a much less memorable year with West Ham in 2010. While with the Hammers, McCarthy was reportedly fined £200,000 for failing to meet fitness targets.

Since his retirement, McCarthy married former Miss Edinburgh Stacey Munro in May 2014. The couple met when the striker was filming an advert for Nike in the Scottish city.

McCarthy has previously said of their relationship: “We met in Edinburgh. I went there on a shoot and she was one of those pretty girls they have as extras. I couldn’t concentrate on what I was supposed to do!”

Celebritynetworth.com claims that McCarthy’s net worth is £13m. South Africa’s record goalscorer amassed his fortune during his glittering playing career in Europe, and has impressed during his coaching spell at Old Trafford.

After Rashford scored in United’s 2-2 draw with Leeds last week, the England forward became the first Red Devils player to score 20 goals in three different seasons. It proves that McCarthy’s appointment has paid off.

Source: www.express.co.uk