Louis van Gaal has brought through some pedigree young players in his time and believes Marcus Rashford has the same qualities as Patrick Kluivert, Thomas Müller, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta, his former charges at Ajax, Bayern Munich and Barcelona respectively.

“A good manager should always try to have a mix of young and experienced players in his selection,” Manchester United’s manager said before Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton. “I believe in young players, and at all my clubs I have given them a chance, even when I started out at AZ Alkmaar.

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“Then I went to Ajax and Kluivert, 18 years old, gave the same sort of performances as we are seeing from Rashford. I can give a lot of other examples of the same thing. Müller at Bayern, Xavi and Iniesta at Barcelona. Age is not the issue, quality is more important.”

Though Rashford has settled into the first team straight away and has hit seven goals in 13 appearances, Van Gaal has warned the 18-year-old is not the finished article. The manager will leave others to decide whether Rashford should go to Euro 2016 with England – he does not want to interfere – but insists the teenager is not fully ready for club football, let alone an international tournament.

“He is not yet ready and he knows that; he can still learn a lot,” he said. “It is always a risk when you promote young players to the first team because it is such a step up. As a manager you always need guts to put youngsters in the squad. Of course the Manchester United scouts and academy coaches deserve a lot of credit for finding these boys and preparing them; compared to the hours they put in my part is only a little one. But that part is still very important because you need the guts to do it.”

Van Gaal knows United’s season will not be defined by the success or otherwise of the FA Cup campaign – he accepts that a fourth-place finish to secure a Champions League spot is much more important to the club. All the same, a semi-final at Wembley cannot be taken lightly, and with Everton in disarray following a costly defeat in the Merseyside derby, United must be favourites to reach the final. Van Gaal’s United have not only beaten Liverpool at home and away in the Premier League this season, they have exactly the same record against Everton.

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“We have gone further in the competition than we did last year,” Van Gaal said, determined not to get carried away. “We reached the quarter-final last year and now we are in the semi-finals, so that means we have done something better.

“It is not for me to judge what will count as success at the end of the season. I do my utmost best to prepare the team. We are still in the race for fourth place in the Premier League as well as in a semi-final at Wembley and that was our aim.”

Van Gaal would not be drawn on the situation at Everton, who have injury and suspension problems in defence as well as a crisis building around Roberto Martínez’s future as manager.

“I do not want to comment on another manager’s job and environment – it is not good to do that,” he said. “I will not speak about individual players either, even if I like them, otherwise they are thinking we are interested in them and that’s not good for Manchester United or Everton.”