Marcus Rashford scored his first two goals for Aston Villa at Preston
Marcus Rashford scored his first two goals for Aston Villa at Preston
Marcus Rashford’s starring role in Aston Villa’s FA Cup win over Preston should have made uncomfortable viewing for Ruben Amorim.
Of all the clangers Amorim has dropped during his short reign so far at Manchester United, letting Rashford join Villa on loan stands out as his biggest. Rashford has been reborn at Villa and the striker has bagged two goals and four assists in his 10 appearances, to win back his England place after a year on the sidelines.
Unai Emery is clearly getting the best out of him, Thomas Tuchel has no problems with him and Erik ten Hag got him to produce his best season in 2022-23 when he scored 34 goals for United and England. Ironically, Rashford started well under Amorim and scored the first goal of his United reign as well as a double against Everton to take his tally to three in his first three appearances under the Portuguese.
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Amorim dropped him for the Manchester derby in mid-December, claiming “he was not giving his maximum”. The breakdown in relations goes back to before the Everton game on December 1 when Rashford reportedly broke Amorim’s pre-match rules by going out two days before the match.
Amorim will rightly argue that he cannot let any individual undermine his authority, especially when he was just weeks into the job. But United have suffered too many of these instances when talented players are offloaded because their faces no longer fit and Jadon Sancho and Antony spring to mind.
Amorim's United continue to look disjointed
Amorim's United continue to look disjointed ( Image: PA)
Amorim’s fall-out with Rashford began a domino effect for United and with each development, the situation got worse. The departure of Rashford weakened United’s feeble attack and Rasmus Hojlund only scored his first goal in 22 games in their last match against the mighty Leicester.
Rashford was supposed to go to Serie A or Barcelona, but they could not cover enough of his wages and instead he is at Villa, making United and Amorim look bad. If Amorim had signed another forward in January that would have helped, but instead he spent what money he had on left wing-back Patrick Dorgu.
Rashford is thriving on loan at Aston Villa
Rashford is thriving on loan at Aston Villa ( Image: PA)
A coach’s job is to get the best out of the players at his disposal, yet Amorim felt within just a couple of weeks of taking over, he could not work with Rashford. The only silver lining to his very dark cloud for United is that they should have more suitors for Rashford in the summer.
He will be at his peak at 27 and have three more years on his United contract. There is no way back for him at his boyhood club and Amorim’s authority would be fatally weakened if he returned in the summer.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe gave Amorim his full backing in his recent interviews and the United co-owner would not perform a U-turn by making him take back Rashford. Of course, every club is aware of this and they know United may have to accept another loan for Rashford if no-one has bought him before the clock ticks down on the closing of the summer window.
The pain caused by Amorim’s fall-out with Rashford is far from over for United.
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