Marcus Rashford
Marcus Rashford of Manchester United (Image: Getty Images)
Wayne Rooney has had to reconsider his previous comments as Marcus Rashford may no longer surpass his scoring record following a bombshell interview over his Manchester United future.
Rashford's recent performances have not matched the heights of his 30-goal haul in the 2022/23 season under the now-departed Erik ten Hag.
As a result, Ruben Amorim decided to bench Rashford for United's clash with Manchester City. Despite a promising start under new manager Amorim at Old Trafford, scoring in his first match against Ipswich Town and netting twice against Everton, Rashford has faced setbacks, being relegated to the bench for matches against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, and then completely dropped from the squad for the pivotal game at the Etihad.
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Amorim explained that his tough choice was intended to 'push them harder', signalling that both Rashford and teammate Alejandro Garnacho are falling short of expectations off the pitch. Rooney's earlier prediction that Rashford could surpass his own scoring record for the Red Devils now seems increasingly hasty and ill-judged.
"He's in a privileged position where he's playing for Manchester United," Rooney had said to TNT Sports back in March. "I've said before, he's the one player I really believed could go and get my goalscoring record. I hope he does because he's a Manchester lad, but he needs to hit some consistency.
"Of course, he needs to find some form and consistency and become a leader of this team. I don't think Marcus is that type of player; I don't think he's a leader, and sometimes his body language doesn't look the best from that point of view. For me I look at the likes of Casemiro, Bruno [Fernandes] as captain. They're players who should be getting that out of Marcus because sometimes you need your team-mates to get more out of you as well."
Yet, the task of breaking Rooney's 253-goal record now seems further away than ever before for Rashford as the forward himself has now admitted he's ready for a new challenge away from Old Trafford.
In an interview with journalist Henry Winter, he said: "For me, personally, I think I'm ready for a new challenge and the next steps. When I leave it's going to be 'no hard feelings'. You're not going to have any negative comments from me about Manchester United. That's me as a person. If I know that a situation is already bad I'm not going to make it worse. I've seen how other players have left in the past and I don't want to be that person. When I leave I'll make a statement and it will be from me."
Asked if he'd always be a United supporter, he replied: "Yes! 100 per cent. 100 per cent."
Premier League icon Alan Shearer had also shared his concerns over the Englishman, telling Mirror Football: "I don't know him personally. I saw him three years ago scoring 30 goals a season, so it is in there, but we haven't seen anywhere near that for a long time now. There's only two guys who can answer, his manager and him with his attitude and his performances and his belief.
"His performances haven't been there for a while; he's gone from there to down there in such a short space of time, so clearly something's not right. I don't know why he's gone from there three years ago to where he is now, but I don't see a happy player. It would be wrong for me to speculate. I don't know what's going on around him."
Rashford has 138 goals for United across all competitions to date.