Marcus Rashford is set to take on Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League after his Aston Villa side sent Club Brugge on their way.
The loan spell at Aston Villa has gone swimmingly for Marcus Rashford, with an assist for Marco Asensio in Europe continuing a prolific partnership.
Unai Emery’s a huge fan of Rashford already, and things are good at Villa as both their January signings, Rashford and Asensio, have powered their attack.
While Man Utd fans won’t be sad to Rashford performing well, his connection with Asensio is nonetheless showing that he was failed at Old Trafford by his teammate.
Photo by MB Media/Getty Images
Photo by MB Media/Getty Images
Marcus Rashford-Marco Asensio partnership
Rashford might have received the No. 9 jersey at Aston Villa but Unai Emery has primarily used him in his natural position on the left.
He regularly cuts inside but also mixes it up by going on his left foot which has made him a nightmare for opponents to deal with.
His dribbling forces the defences to collapse and scramble to stop him, leaving his teammates in acres of space in and around the box.
The main beneficiary of that scrambled defence has been Marco Asensio, whose runs into the box from deep create overloads in the middle as the Spaniard finds himself in space.
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Rashford has already assisted about five goals for Asensio and the trend doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon since their game matches so well with each other.
Man Utd have a player whose game is extremely similar to that of Asensio. Unfortunately, he failed Rashford when the player was at the club.
Marcus Rashford’s dream teammate was Mason Mount
First of all, it is worth getting out of the way that Rashford didn’t help himself much when it came to succeeding at Old Trafford, which is a shame.
Having said that, there were mitigating factors as well, the biggest one was always thought to be the absence of a dynamic, overlapping full-back.
Rashford played his best football when Luke Shaw was at his best behind him, but his spell at Villa is proving that, more than Shaw, Rashford’s ideal teammate would’ve been Mason Mount.
Mount’s off-the-ball running and ability to spot spaces on the pitch would have made him the ideal candidate to receive Rashford’s passes and create link-ups, much like Asensio does at Villa.
However, Mount’s damaging injury record at United never allowed that to happen and with that, two players most suited to playing with Rashford went away – Shaw and Mount.
Rashford’s professionalism at United is a topic of conversation on its own but he wasn’t helped by outside factors either. Asensio is proving it at Villa.