Marcus Rashford Redemption for Manchester United & England

Marcus Rashford is a footballer who burst onto the scene in 2016 with promise and talent to become one of the legendary players at Manchester United and in the world. His talent was unrecognised during his stint under Jose Mourinho despite playing a majority of the games under the Portuguese manager. This was mainly due to his statistics being considered 'average' for any footballer and with the meteoric rise of Mbappe during the same time took away the limelight for Rashford.   

Of course, Mbappe is in a completely different atmosphere to most footballers these days, but Rashford was certainly a catalyst for the new generation to become the stars for the next wave of footballing talents.

Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, between 2019-2022, Marcus Rashford seemed to be capable of reaching new heights as a footballer. He became an irreplaceable member of the squad and began to score goals for fun during this spell. However, mismanagement of his injuries then led to a period of Rashford being on the sideline which affected his form and confidence. This was during the lockdown period and certainly began to hinder his progress in the long run. In the 19/20 season, he managed a 34 G+A in 44 matches despite playing through injury in the second half of the season.

As mentioned before, his injuries and fitness were managed poorly during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign. Going into the 20/21 season without proper pre-season was certainly a risk for Marcus Rashford. It became quite evident as a few months in he picked up a shoulder problem which was managed poorly and hurt his form in the long run. But despite this, he managed to display another really good season with a G+A of 36 in 57 matches for Manchester United.

At the end of the season, it was quite apparent that his shoulder injury was not improving at all and his fitness was very low. Rashford did say in an interview post-Europa League final loss that he played the season with constant injuries. This was worsened further with his inclusion in England's Euro squad that summer of 2021. Despite not starting many games, he did have a few substitute appearances the most notable one being in the final and his costly penalty miss in the shootout resulting in Italy's triumph. The reaction from supporters was out of hand and once again Rashford was mismanaged by the coaching staff.

Surgery was needed after the tournament on his shoulder which saw him miss out on pre-season with Manchester United once again and a few months into the start of the season. With the Euro loss reaction and surgery of his injury his fitness and mental state were nowhere near ready to play football again. Manchester United was also struggling on all fronts. He was falling out of favour with both fans and the interim boss Ralf Rangnick who stated publically that Rashford is free to leave in the summer of 2022 which did not do Rashford's confidence any favour. And in the season of 21/22, he only managed a G+A of 7 (the lowest in his career) and many fans called for him to leave. 

Once that torrid season ended for both the club, fans and players Rashford's desire to become better was more than ever - especially to make a good impression on the new boss Erik Ten Hag as well as get recalled for England's world cup squad for late 2022 having also been missed England matches post Euro's. His hard work and determination paid off during the summer and having a proper pre-season with Manchester United certainly helped boost his fitness and morale for the season. 

Despite the club having a shaky start to the season, Manchester United and Erik Ten Hag have found their feet and are regarded as one of the most in-form teams in the world with only 1 loss in their last 14 matches. Meanwhile, Marcus Rashford is a top-scorer and once again a fan-favourite in Manchester. He was also called to the world cup squad and was the joint-top scorer with 3 goals for the national team despite only starting 1 game. For Manchester United, he currently has 21 G+A in 25 appearances, averaging a goal involvement every 88 minutes. These statistics are of a world-class player which many of his teammates (Shaw, Casemiro and Martinez) have regarded this season so far.

Rashford has always had the potential to become a world-class player for Manchester United but now many are touting him to become one of the top 5 players in the world based on his current form. He has scored in all his matches (6) post world cup with a tally of 7 goals (most by any player in Europe). His redemption is certainly a pleasing sight to see as a Manchester United fan because seeing a happy and confident Rashford is truly a blessing to watch unless you are the opposition. Thus, with this newfound confidence and faith from the manager and supporters the sky is certainly the limit for Rashford and he is certainly a player capable of exceeding expectations and becoming a legend of the game.