THE honours and accolades are being piled on to Marcus Rashford — and justifiably so.
An MBE, a national treasure, a potential BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the greatest living Englishman.
Marcus Rashford has been craving the chance to lead Man United’s attackCredit: Getty
Boris Johnson and the Tories know how good Rashford is coming from the leftCredit: Alamy Live News
Rashford’s extraordinary dedication to his campaigning against child poverty has fully earned him all this.
Yet there is one status Rashford has craved above all in his 4.5 years as a first-team player — that of Manchester United’s first-choice starting centre-forward.
And in Wednesday’s 5-0 Champions League rout of Germans RB Leipzig, he looked closer than ever to fulfilling that aim.
After the Bundesliga leaders were filleted by Rashford’s 16-minute hat-trick, there was some sarcastic chuckling between Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Lineker in the BT Sport studio that the star was ‘a winger, not a centre-forward’.
The comments stemmed from Jose Mourinho’s time as Manchester United boss — when Rashford played predominantly out wide, with Romelu Lukaku as the No 9, and he frequently struggled for form.
Back then, Rashford was a one-goal-in-five-matches man.
Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, he is close to one in two.
This is not to entirely blame Mourinho. Despite Rashford’s instant impact when he burst into United’s starting line-up in 2016, he was never a classic overnight sensation.
Unlike Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen, who peaked in their teens, Rashford has needed time to develop and learn his trade.
Yet now, as he prepares to celebrate his 23rd birthday tomorrow, Rashford is now approaching the finished article — his best years about to come.
His goals against Leipzig, after he’d come off the bench to replace Mason Greenwood in a front two ahead of a diamond, were those of a classic centre-forward — pace, poise, directness and instinctive finishing.
Then there was perhaps the most telling moment of all.
Rashford had the opportunity to complete the first hat-trick of his senior career as United were awarded a penalty — only for him to cede spot-kick responsibility to Anthony Martial, who needed a goal more. The fact that Rashford then claimed the match ball in injury-time was true poetic justice.
He is beginning to look like the best centre-forward at the club. A better option than Martial, Greenwood or Edinson Cavani, who can all operate centrally or out wide.
Yet Rashford’s selflessness, so apparent off the pitch, marked him out as a true team man — and with it the claim that he is a future United captain.
Former Old Trafford ace Owen Hargreaves, speaking on BT Sport, said: “He’s looking out for his team-mates. Marcus knows he’s going to get his numbers, I love that.
“That’s being a great team-mate. That’s why he’s going to be the captain — because he thinks about everyone else.”
That is unlikely to be one for the near future, given that Harry Maguire’s leadership qualities are more apparent than his defensive capabilities.
But it all helps Rashford’s cause as a central figure at United — no longer on the periphery in terms of his playing position or personality.
Rashford had the most prolific season of his career last term with 22 goals for United, nine more than his previous best.
He had netted 19 times in three months for club and country before a back injury in January kept him out until after lockdown.
Then, a slowdown in his scoring rate, which sparked accusations that his charitable and political work were affecting his form.
It always sounded like patronising ‘stick to football’ nonsense and usually came from those who don’t back his anti-poverty stance.
This season the emphatic response has arrived, with seven goals in nine games — including a belter in the victory at Brighton, a winner at Paris Saint-Germain and then that treble against last season’s Champions League semi-finalists.
Rashford wreaks havoc coming from the left wing, as the Tory Government know. Yet his future belongs at the centre of United’s attack. And that future is almost here.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
