Opinion | Marcus Rashford extends Manchester United stay: not even securing England’s brightest talent can raise spirits at Old Trafford
- England striker to stay at hometown club until 2023
- Academy graduate signs highly incentivised new deal
So negative is the mood around Old Trafford that a wave of pessimism greets almost every announcement. Manchester United fans have a real downer on the players they feel let them down last season as the team finished sixth. The stock of every single United player dropped, even the home-grown, United-supporting Mancunians like Marcus Rashford.
The 21-year-old striker agreed a contract extension and pay rise on Monday, but plenty of fans were ready to doubt the heavily incentivised deal which runs to 2023, with an option of another year, worth around £200,000 (US$252,000, HK$1.97 million) a week basic.
Rashford is a centre-forward who can’t be described as prolific, his 13 goals last season put him 24th in the Premier League scorers’ chart. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 44 for United in the 2002-03 season. Rashford’s got 45 in 170 appearances since making his debut in February 2016.
In a heated dressing room encounter in front of the other players last season, Ander Herrera strongly took issue with Rashford and his attitude. Such confrontations are entirely normal and most never make it out of the dressing room, but Rashford wasn’t impressing the players around him. Who was, as United won two in 12?
As they slumped, Rashford talked about his teammates getting back on track by doing what they’d done when Solskjaer first arrived, but it was little more than talk. The worry among some inside the club was that Rashford stopped doing what he did best and running behind opposing defenders.
United and Rashford were abject in March, April and May, yet the club have done the right thing in extending his contract. Fans might scoff at Barcelona’s interest as reported in this column in April, but it’s genuine. They knew Luis Suarez’s time at the club is coming to a close and they’d take him in a heartbeat since they feel he can play across the front three and has time to improve, but the Catalans know United wouldn’t consider selling him. Could you have blamed the Mancunian for moving and playing for a team which wins leagues rather than a perennially misfiring United?