As a child supporting a football club, the dream is to one day play for them. This goes for any child, in any country, for any team, and the reality is that very, very few people get to live this out. It would be natural, then, to assume that the lucky few understand in no uncertain terms just how lucky they are, and would give nothing less than their absolute all finding themselves in this position. That is until you come across Marcus Rashford.
There was a time, not too long ago, comparisons between the Wythenshawe lad and Kylian Mbappe were commonplace, and with good reason.
For a good spell of around two years, Rashford was completely unplayable on the left wing, running at full-backs with frightening pace, turning them inside-out and cutting inside with devastating effect. He wasn’t ever particularly prolific on a consistent basis, but his very presence was enough to leave teams fearing the very mention of his name come game day, and genuine excitement from United fans seeing his name on the team sheet.
Think back to Liverpool at Old Trafford in 2018 where he left Trent Alexander-Arnold in a scrumpled mess whilst bagging a brace as the perfect example of this, countless other examples exist or Rashford tearing new rear ends as he weaved his way to goal, but these feel so long ago now recall is difficult at best.
Consistency is what separates the wheat from the chaff in terms of world class footballers, and this was always the one sticking point for Rashford when this accolade was being handed out – the ability was there in shovels – but that never mattered when he pulled the red shirt on because he was giving every part of him for the cause.
His work rate was seldom doubted which made his poor patches much more palatable, sure he wouldn’t be 9 out of 10 every week, but at least when he was playing a 5, he was trying to enable others. Something big has changed though for Rashford, and it’s gone beyond an annoyance into something much more infuriating. He trotted out against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup as arguably the best player on the park, comparatively much weaker opposition is where the best players showcase the gulf in quality, and the Wigan left back, Sean Clare, will have been praying for a miracle before kick off. I would wager he’ll have a worse 90 minutes when his side meet Northampton next time out. Clare and his companions made Rashford look exceptionally average, helped by yet another lacklustre day at the office for the former Golden Boy.
There were murmurs a while back, when Rashford was being asked to play through the middle, that he was unhappy with not playing in his preferred left wing position. There was a clamour to get him back out there so fans could see the best of him once more, moving back out there was the key to him recapturing the form that saw him score 30 goals last season in what was a stellar return. In reality, Diogo Dalot is just a solitary goal behind him this season in all competitions, Rasmus Hojlund has double his return, and even Anthony Martial almost has him matched. Rashford is now one of the biggest issues Erik ten Hag has to face at the club. Capable on his day, top scorer last season and a powerful influence in the dressing room, how exactly do you manage this? Upsetting the Englishman could end up in an incredibly costly backlash for the manager, whereas selling him seems difficult when you consider how much he would be valued at.
His time seems very much up at United from an outside perspective. The interest seems to have left him entirely, never mind the effort (another facet that is now a distant memory), Rashford now cuts a similar figure to the aforementioned Martial, and when you put that under the microscope it is much more infuriating than you perhaps would have initially considered. Martial has no emotional ties to Manchester United, they are simply the club who bought him. He wasn’t said to have been a boyhood fan, he’s French so not local, and he’s seemed to hate the place for 6 of the 8 years he has “played” for United. Rashford, though, is living your dream, and he looks as happy about it as I would being made to go to Anfield every week in full regalia. There have been some nice memories, Marcus, but it feels time to wave goodbye. If only there was an international tournament you wanted to play in every summer, hey.
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