by That much can change in 12 months and Marcus Rashford is learning that the hard way – not for the first time either.
Eight years into his senior career at Manchester United and he has had more heroics to zero than most achieve in a lifetime. In April/May 2023 he was on his way to scoring 30 times for United in all competitions, leading Erik ten Hag to a highly respectable and largely successful first term in charge . Now, he has become a target of some of his own followers to abuse social media and is being encouraged by sections of the crowd as well.
The Mancunian, who has led the way for United’s youth academy recently, scored his 100th goal for the club last season. He is only one game out of 400 for the Red Devils, but the positivity that usually accompanies these achievements is not evident.
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Rashford has taken to online posts to defend himself against his goalscorers, and earlier this year his brother also spoke out about media criticism. His reputation as a highly paid attacker with little to defend has left him open to scathing criticism from supporters and former players.
Locally-born graduates also tend to find it harder to thrive in today’s football landscape, pitted against all the talent in the world in charge. More noticeably, however, his form is poor and that is an immediate frustration that perhaps outweighs anything else.
Rashford has scored just eight times in all competitions with five goals in 40 games. He is a long way from the player who scored 10 times in 10 league games between the end of December 2022 and March 2023.
His levels have declined at the same time as Ten Hag have struggled to replicate the same standard of performance across the board. It is at a time when Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos are assessing the whole club from top to bottom. In terms of effectiveness, Rashford is not currently embracing what the new regime in sports governance holds.
But he certainly can. He holds a senior career record for a goal or assist in almost every other game, but last year he was in the running for player of the season, and has already reached double figures for goals in four individual Premier League campaigns. He could reach that five with a good finish so far this year even if it is not impossible after two goals in 10.
He is versatile and can play across the front line, although the wait continues for him to truly find his best role. He also regularly plays over 2,500 minutes in the league alone. At 26, he is the type of player most sides look to build around and his catalog and history show strength to fall back on.
The issue is that there are also some good years. In 2021/22 he managed just four goals and two assists, playing less than 1,500 minutes, struggling with form and fitness. He’s followed up the best season of his professional career with the second-worst to date since 2018. He hasn’t been a consistent player year after year, which is part of the angry response.
This is reflected in its estimated value. As a teenager Rashford was estimated to be worth more than £60 million by Transfermakt. Three years since it started and that has risen to £68 million. The Boy Wonder is doing well, shining the light.
During the aforementioned struggles his value fell to £54 million. It coincided with the attention he received during the Covid-19 pandemic and his fight against the British government to help feed children across the country. That generated reactions asking him to focus on football at the time, even if his efforts were also praised.
Shortly afterwards he was one of three England players to miss a penalty in the Euro 2020 final (to be played in 2021) against Italy.
Still young despite his level of experience at that age, his position has steadily improved under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, however. The reaction at such a low point was testament to Rashford’s mental strength.
His market value subsequently rose in December 2021 at £72 million despite on-field troubles. It was around this time that reports linking him with Paris Saint-Germain emerged. It was said in some quarters that the club would hold out over £120 million for him.
But Rashford was unable to keep up those levels and only started 13 league games the following season. Going into the 2022 World Cup his value dropped to the lowest level since he was a teenager. At £46million he was representative of the sour mood around his camp after four league goals in the first 16 games of the season.
Rashford’s response to that was the hottest streak of his career so far. Once again refusing to let go, putting the fight on the field. Not surprisingly, the value meter increased again and in August last year he was awarded a new contract until 2028.
The story of how things played out since then is well documented. The current value of £52million is his second lowest value since he turned 20. While he’s mostly playable, he’s only slightly more valuable now, the position dictates, than he was at his physical nadir two years ago.
It shows what United could be missing out on in terms of generating a transfer fee for a player some now want to leave, but also the impact club instability can have on an individual. His position of £21 million less than 2021 certainly raises questions for United.
For Ratcliffe and Co. it is a lesson in what happened and what cannot be allowed to happen again. For Rashford it’s a case of proving himself time and time again, hitting back and reacting. It remains to be seen how it will be embodied this time.
