Things change quickly in football, but for a player to be tipped as “one of the best in the world” to almost be out of the exit door in less than two years is still some feat.
Achieving the wrong kind of impossible feats has been Manchester United’s bread and butter, and they will do so one more time in this transfer window.
While some are due to factors outside of their control, some are controllable, and the recent one falls somewhere in the middle.
The player failed them, and to an extent, they failed the player. And now, they are looking to sell a player who was once tipped to be ‘one of the best in the world’ by his teammates.
Marcus Rashford of Manchester United celebrates with Cristiano Ronaldo, Luke Shaw, Anthony Elanga and Diogo Dalot
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
A fall from grace for Marcus Rashford
It feels like a lifetime away, but it was just the 2022/23 season when Marcus Rashford was scoring 30 goals in all competitions with 12 assists.
He had become the leader of the attack by making good on the potential he had shown for a while, and Erik ten Hag’s debut season was going swimmingly.
In January of 2023, after Rashford couldn’t stop scoring upon returning from the World Cup break, three of his teammates said the same thing about him.
Diogo Dalot, Lisandro Martinez, and Casemiro tipped him to become one of the best players in the world, a claim that didn’t look the least bit outlandish at the time.
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By January 2025, he was playing for Aston Villa after burning all bridges with Ruben Amorim, and having instances of unprofessionalism under Erik ten Hag as well.
At 27, Rashford is supposed to be entering his peak years now at his boyhood club. Instead, he’s holding out for Barcelona to cycle through their list of targets so they can eventually settle for him, that too, at a discounted rate.
Rashford and Man Utd failed each other
So, where did it go wrong for Marcus Rashford? Novels can be written on the hatred and vitriol he has received during his time at Old Trafford, which undoubtedly has had an impact.
At the same time, multiple instances of unprofessionalism from him have been swept under the carpet by United until Ruben Amorim firmly drew a line in the sand.
Ultimately, it feels like both parties have failed each other to a certain extent. Rashford just doesn’t look comfortable with the weight of the United jersey, and the club enabled his bad habits for too long before going the other extreme and freezing him out.
The end result is that a boyhood United fan who had the world at his feet just two years ago is now waiting for clarity on his future, going through public humiliation rituals on a daily basis.
It shouldn’t have been this way, but his trajectory sums up United’s fortunes post-Sir Alex Ferguson – a flicker of hope, a blast of excitement, and then a sudden crashing down to reality (read: mediocrity).