It was dark and cold outside as Manchester United’s hardcore away supporters funnelled into their section at the Molineux on February 1, 2024.
Everyone seemed to be talking about Marcus Rashford and his future at United. It was hardly scientific, but there was almost no support for him from the fans. Instead, there was anger and frustration towards what should have been their star player.
Their patience had exhausted at his latest off-the-field misstep – a night out in Belfast. It felt like a fall from grace, the former poster boy of the team, the Manchester lad and United fan. His form had been poor and, not for the first time, he had become a scapegoat rather than a saviour.
Then the game started and Rashford scored almost immediately. The away end cheered and sang ‘like Manchester, Rashford is red.’ It wasn’t a full-on crazy celebration, but it showed how fans can change their tune, how there is always a way back.
But it would be a long way back for Rashford, the man whose name was sold in greater numbers on the back of shirts than any player other than Cristiano Ronaldo in the previous decade. Too much water had passed under the bridge. At Wolves in the previous season, he was dropped for turning up late to a team meeting.
Rashford was one of the best-paid footballers on the planet, but his form was not yet close to that of the best. There was mitigation. Playing for United in the post-Alex Ferguson era wasn’t easy, with constant managerial and tactical changes as well as shifting plates of power.
Out of that, Rashford became one of United’s most successful academy graduates. He played 426 United games and scored 138 goals. Impressive.
His popularity increased massively off the field as he became the face of a campaign for free school dinners during the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing the UK government into a humiliating U-turn. In November 2020, a phone call was made to him from the personal secretary of Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister.
“Boris wants to speak to Marcus now.”
“He’s training.”
“Well, you’ll need to get him from training because Boris wants to speak to him now.”
“Sorry, but he can’t, he’s training.”
As the campaign elevated his profile and former US President Barack Obama praised him, Rashford became one of sport’s most marketable entities; a young home-grown forward for England’s biggest club with a wholesome off-field, socially-conscious image.
The man who had marvelled at NFL’s Odell Beckham Junior at Nike’s HQ in 2018 would surpass his popularity on social media.
In October 2021, Rashford was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester for “his continuing charity work and campaign against child poverty off the field, as well as his outstanding sporting achievements on the pitch”. At 23, he was the youngest recipient of an honorary degree in the university’s history.
That came during a tough time. After the 2020 European Championship (held in 2021 due to Covid) in which he and other England players were racially abused, Rashford was not in a good place when he returned to Old Trafford. Coaches felt he was down, had been affected by what had happened.
There were concerns from coaches at how time and energy Rashford was devoting to off-the-pitch activities, but they could also see value in his work and the praise it was attracting.
Yet tweets from Rashford’s social media accounts sometimes sounded nothing like Rashford and he simply wasn’t the saint he was portrayed as, but a normal-enough Manchester lad living in a goldfish bowl and trying to navigate his way through life amid myriad hangers on.
He made numerous mistakes, he got things wrong. But he was always going to be judged primarily on how he played football and things were not going well. From being a bright international prospect, he lost his place in the England team.
His statistics varied wildly. He scored 22 and 21 goals for United in 2019/20 and 2020/21, then five in 2021/22. He notched 30 (and a massive new contact) in 2023/24, but only eight the following season.
Rashford simply didn’t look happy when he played football or when he talked about football. But as one former teammate said: “He’s looked like this since he’s been 14!” But it was sad to see. And how everybody did see it.
His former coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said last week that he would hate to be a player today with the existence of social media, where the only hiding space was at home.
Rashford didn’t always help himself, but he had had become a non-goalscoring forward and coaches who worked with him were saddened.
United simply didn’t get the expected return and new coach Rubem Amorim acted more decisively than previous United managers with Rashford: after weeks of coaching him, he cut him out of his plans. Most United fans supported the new coach’s actions. They had had enough of Rashford.
A loan to Aston Villa followed and went well enough for the Midlands club to try to sign the player permanently. The slide had stopped, but Rashford’s market value was given as €85 million in 2021.
Now, Barcelona have done a deal where they would pay just over a third of that should they sign him on a permanent deal after a successful loan spell. It’s low risk for the Catalans, who needed more attacking options and who will pay 100 per cent of his wages and have an option to buy at the end of the season.
He is 27, so he should be at his peak. This feels like it’s his final chance to prove he is a world-class footballer. At the very least, he wants to get properly back into the England team. United fans will watch with as much interest as Barcelona fans.
