Man United must not even consider a return for Marcus Rashford | OneFootball

Few sports can spin a narrative quite like football. It’s a sport which will allow Cristiano Ronaldo a fairytale return to Manchester United, and yet still manage to cast him as a pantomime villain forced towards an acrimonious exit after locking horns with a doomed Dutch despot. Or something like that.

A wayward son

Ever the romantics, the Red Devils could be set up for another happily-ever-after, but it’s one they should cold-heartedly avoid. Marcus Rashford, once poised to break United records and write his name forever in the club’s lore, could be in line for a return to Old Trafford this summer.

The English winger is currently on loan at Barcelona, who have an option to buy but are playing coy about whether they will follow through with the purchase. Straight away it’s worth noting that the notoriously thrifty Catalans were always likely to do this as a bargaining tactic and will most likely still sign Rashford, who has been very effective as part of their title-chasing attack.

But if they don’t, the 28-year-old will be sent packing back to Manchester to give his boyhood club something to consider.

A possibility

Rashford was part of a cull of attackers orchestrated by the now-sacked Ruben Amorim, whose system prioritised wing-backs and 10s instead of traditional wingers.

That wasn’t the only reason for the sales and loans of Rashford, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho and Jadon Sancho, who also came up short in terms of attitude and mentality, but it’s notable that they were replaced by the narrower, more direct Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.

But Rashford, who has played extensively at centre-forward (albeit with bad grace), was the one amongst them who should have been able to fit into Amorim’s system.

The Portuguese was right to sign off on the exit of a player whose love for the game in United red seemed to have evaporated alongside his form, but with a new regime come new problems to solve and new attitudes.

A temptation…

Interim head coach Michael Carrick is said to be keen on bringing Rashford back into the fold, but until a decision is made on who the permanent appointment will be, his view is broadly irrelevant – if he is not kept on, he won’t have a transfer window in which to call any shots.

That changes if there is already a plan in motion to hand him a long-term deal, and if the momentum of his first five games is maintained that should certainly be a legitimate option. But for now, Carrick’s preferences are more of a diversion than a potential transfer policy.

More significant would be whether his thoughts are influencing or shared by the hierarchy who are pulling the strings in the market regardless of who is in the dugout.

…which must be resisted

Should Barcelona pull out of the deal, United will be left with an undoubtedly talented player on their hands who fills an obvious gap in the squad. Regardless of Carrick’s future it’s hard to see the club appointing another manager with a system devoid of traditional wingers meaning Rashford would probably have a more obvious route into the first team.

But that’s where he would demand to be, and it’s hard to picture the lacklustre player who departed under a cloud on a mid-season loan to Aston Villa ever being a prominent part of the Old Trafford setup again.

Moving on from Rashford felt like a positive move away from a squad bloated with unmotivated players on colossal wages, and if one thing can be said about the current crop of attackers it is that they to a man show a visceral hunger and dedication to the cause.

Giving the academy graduate and one-time starboy another cold shoulder feels like slamming the door on what could be a perfect full-circle moment, but his time at the club is no less finished now than it was a year ago, and it is better for all parties to preserve the parting of ways.

Of course, this could and probably will all be academic if Barcelona do the obvious thing and cough up the money. But if Rashford does come back to United, it should only be as a brief stop on an onward journey.

Featured image Alex Caparros via Getty Images

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