A WIBSEY-born Manchester United star has always been a model professional - after he won a Telegraph & Argus contest as a boy.

Mason Greenwood, 18, has been earning rave reviews playing for the Red Devils this season, but his career path could have been different.

Aged just four, Greenwood was crowned boys' winner of the Telegraph & Argus Modelsearch competition 2006, held at the city's Kirkgate Centre.

The contest was described as uncovering the next generation of Bradford's would-be supermodels.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Mason Greenwood, then four, and Jade Hodgson, then five, at the 2006 contestMason Greenwood, then four, and Jade Hodgson, then five, at the 2006 contest

The overall winners won a year's free representation with Sheffield agency DK, which supplied models to mobile phone companies, department stores and food companies.

Greenwood, who then lived in Wibsey, won free representation for a year from the model agency and also received £50 in shopping vouchers for coming first in the four-to-six category.

He was pictured wearing a black Philadelphia 76ers basketball team vest, alongside Jade Hodgson, then five, of Eldwick, Bingley, who won the competition's four-to-six category for girls.

Speaking to the T&A at the time, his mum, Melanie Hamilton, said he was very relaxed about winning and celebrated with a McDonald's.

"He took it all in his stride," she said. "He never wanted to enter before but I think his sister talked him into it."

But football soon took over for the youngster, as he joined United aged seven, playing at the club's development school in Halifax.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Mason Greenwood has enjoyed a great season with Manchester UnitedMason Greenwood has enjoyed a great season with Manchester United

Greenwood made his competitive first-team debut for the club in March 2019 in a 3-1 win against Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League.

Aged 17 years and 156 days, he became the second youngest player to represent the club in a European competition.

But this has been his breakthrough year, scoring 18 goals in 47 games in all competitions, including nine in the Premier League.

Greenwood signed a long-term deal last October which will seem him stay at Old Trafford until at least the summer of 2023, with the option of a further year.

“Having grown up as a Manchester United fan, playing for the first team is a real dream come true.

"I know that, when I play for this club, I represent the whole academy and I want to repay the faith that my coaches have shown in me with my performances on the pitch,” Greenwood told United’s official website when he signed his deal last year.

Catherine Riley, Kirkgate Centre manager, said: "It's lovely to see Mason doing so well for himself, he’s obviously a very talented young man with a brilliant future ahead of him. We wish him well in his football career.

"Sadly due to coronavirus we are having to take a break from Modelsearch in 2020 but we hope to bring it back in 2021."

Nigel Burton, T&A editor, says it was great to unearth the photos of the England Under-21 star when he was a boy.

Mr Burton said: "He has been really impressive for Manchester United this season and he is obviously destined for great things in the game.

"Mason is one of English football's biggest rising stars.

"Everyone at the T&A, and I'm sure in Bradford, wishes Mason good luck during his football career."

Greenwood is the latest Bradford-born star to currently line up in the Premier League, with former Bradford City youngsters Tom Cleverley playing for Watford and Fabian Delph at Everton.