Marcus Rashford’s latest discipline breach almost seems contrived to provoke Erik ten Hag. If the England striker would be happiest away from Old Trafford, then a parting is best for Manchester United too…
Marcus Rashford is not a happy man. Why? We don’t know. It is none of anyone’s business outside the Manchester United forward’s tight circle. A group that evidently does not include his manager.
In the face of questions over his forward’s absence, Erik ten Hag’s expression resembled the one Rashford has carried for most of the season – that of a permanently-slapped arse. No one can blame the United boss for feeling miffed over the latest breach of his rules, especially given the pressure and scrutiny the Dutchman is currently under.
Ten Hag’s demands for discipline are hardly draconian; the United boss expects behaviour and standards to match those that are a consistent feature within winning teams and successful organisations. He’s not asking for much.
But that minimum is evidently too much for Rashford. Twice now this term Ten Hag has had to deal with the fall-out from his forward’s thirst for a night out. Which no one would begrudge Rashford – at the appropriate times.
Which is where Rashford has the problem. Hitting a club in the immediate aftermath of a derby battering back in November was neither wise nor appreciated by his manager. It was a questionable choice but hardly the worst sin a United player has committed of late.
You might say similar of his decision to chase fun in Belfast last Wednesday. But only the most miserly would begrudge Rashford a night out before a designated day off on Thursday. He trained earlier in the day, took a private jet to Northern Ireland in the afternoon, and hit the town in the evening. We’ve all done it.
Even making it a two-night stopover ought not to have been a problem. All Rashford had to do was ensure he was back in Manchester and ready to train on Friday before the FA Cup tie at Newport. That he was not, and instead embarked upon a ’12-hour tequila bender’, feels like a deliberately provocative move on the player’s part.
This latest breach of discipline has to be put in context with previous patterns of behaviour and Rashford’s rotten season. He is not playing well. Of course, you could say the same about many of his team-mates, but everything we have learned from watching Rashford since he burst on the scene almost eight years ago tells us something is amiss.
As one of the leading faces of his boyhood club and one of their highest-earning stars, Rashford looks thoroughly miserable with his lot. The 26-year-old poked fun at the fuss over his long-missing smile last Wednesday with a social media post perhaps composed while racing across the Irish Sea bound for Belfast. Instagram versus reality indeed.
We know not what would make him happy. But it is increasingly hard to ignore the possibility that it might involve a move away from Manchester United. And no longer, from the club’s perspective, is the prospect as unthinkable as it once was.
Rashford is in the midst of his eighth full season in the United first team, a career unfortunately timed to coincide with falling standards across the board at Old Trafford. As Nicky Butt suggested, a strong squad – a ‘good culture’ of the type Ten Hag aspires to implement – would have dragged Rashford out of his funk. But in the current ‘s***hole’ of a dressing room, it is easy to get dragged down.
Rashford is now one of the senior players who should be setting the standards. Instead, he appears content to cruise. Maybe as far as the exit door his mate Jadon Sancho has been ushered towards. Seeing Sancho smiling back in Dortmund won’t be lost on Rashford and his crew.
Doubtless Rashford and his brother, who also serves as his agent, thoroughly checked out his options prior to signing a mega new contract last July. There will be clubs who wanted him then who would happily move again for the England star. PSG, perhaps, as they prepare for life after Kylian Mbappe. If the source of Rashford’s discontent is to be found in his professional life, a change of scene is the obvious way to lift his gloom.
If that is the conclusion already reached, then Rashford is going about his pursuit of happiness in the wrong way. His Belfast troubles were so avoidable, you have to question if it was contrived to provoke Ten Hag, pitting the under-pressure manager against the local boy wonder.
The problem for Rashford and those advising him is that he no longer benefits from the same credit he once did. Supporters are losing patience with his performances and contribution to United’s cause. His struggles are clear in the stats – just four goals in 26 appearances in all competitions – and the anecdotal evidence suggests he has little desire to conform to how Ten Hag wants to play, especially defensively. Rashford is chief among United’s pretend pressers.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe chatted with Sir Alex Ferguson while Marcus Rashford struggled again despite scoring against Spurs.
Once Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s team have got their feet under the table and assessed who can help them restore United’s reputation and who is dispensable, it would be a surprise to see Rashford in the second category, but only because of the perception that he would be the face of United for years to come. Perhaps he now epitomises too many of the traits that have made it necessary for Ratcliffe to carry out an inquest over his club’s decline.
One of their many problems in recent years has been an abject lack of nous in the transfer market, with sales as problematic as purchases. The previous regime would be terrified to cash in on Rashford for fear of him being a huge success elsewhere. Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford appear more capable of seeing the bigger picture.
If Rashford is making a ham-fisted attempt to manufacture an Old Trafford exit, United should not stand in his way as long as it suits them. If not, he ought to buck his ideas up sharpish or, as Alan Shearer suggested, risk wasting his talent.
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