The Curious Case of Marcus Rashford

In the 2015-16 Premier League season, there was an unknown English teenager sitting on the Man United bench. A kid who, from the age of 8, has been developing under their youth team, and had just finally been given the opportunity to get called up to the first team. He thought maybe he'd just get comfortable and watch from the sidelines, trying to learn as much as he can. Until, all of a sudden, his name would be called up in utter shock, never having been given the opportunity to play before. Told that he would be in the starting 11 in no less than a Europa League round of 32 match. And, much to the surprise of everyone, that teenager managed to go on and score two goals while breaking the longtime record of George Best, as the youngest player to score in a European match. But later that very same week, the youngster was again chosen to start in a match against Arsenal, where he would go on to have two goals and provide an assist. And United's 3-2 win over the Gunners, involved in every single one of their goals. And ever since that moment, English media would absolutely fall in love and sing endless praises of the potential of their homegrown wonderkid, Marcus Rashford. And he was touted as the future of English football, and the second coming of Wayne Rooney. It was utter pandemonium. But fast forward to 2024, and, well, Marcus Rashford has kind of become a meme. And for many fans and haters alike, ironically, is still being treated like a wonderkid. Because from my observations, between what I would consider half of English and Man Utd supporters, there are those who defend him and call him world-class, saying things like this. You can't blame Rashford. If you're dragging him because you're thinking that he's not tracking back or whatever, or he's not getting tight, you've got an agenda against Marcus Rashford. And they might get some results because they've got top players, right? Marcus Rashford's a top player. With a lot of narratives still saying he has a lot of potential, and that he'll get better. Again, still treating him like he's some kind of wonderkid, when it's basically been about a decade since he's made his United debut. Naturally, the other half clearly refused to accept those statements, and say things like this. As of the making of this video, Manchester United currently sits at 14th place. Eric Tenehack really did revolutionize the club, and bring it to new levels. Terrible, but new levels for sure. And for most of the United matches I've tuned in to watch, sure, Rashford has done okay, scoring a goal here and there. But what's most surprising to me, and seemingly is only getting worse over the years, is Rashford's reluctancy to press, come help to defend or regain possession, and seemingly yearly decline of his dedication and commitment to football overall. Because when you have a former Man United captain like Roy Keane saying things like this about you, well, that can't be good. From being absolutely adored by all of England, to slowly turning into a meme, being incredibly inconsistent, and now turning into the most polarizing English footballer. The people are divided between either loving or hating him. So just how did it get this way? Well, we're here to look at the curious case of Marcus Rashford. As early as 8 years old, Marcus Rashford already caught the attention of United youth manager Paul McGuinness. And over the years, his determination and work ethic really stood out. Because by the time he was 16, Rashford was invited out to train with the first team during the 2013-14 season. It was the privilege that the captain of United's youth team was given. And all the signs were pointing to Rashford finally making the step to move up to the men's side. And like I mentioned in the beginning, his first time playing for the men's team during that insane debut week really did catapult his name up there throughout the British media and British footballing landscape. And that chance to even get on the pitch when he had never played before, ironically came from the fact that Anthony Marshall picked up an injury during warmups, of all things. And let's not forget, this was the same Anthony Marshall that had a bail-on-door clause in his contract. I guess you could say it was kind of poetic that the once extremely promising wonder kid was then replaced by a relatively unknown one. Anyways, Rashford would cap off that insane season debut, scoring the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory against their bitter rivals, Man City. Surely by then, Rashford was carrying the hopes of Man United fans all over the world on top of his shoulders. Seven Truly, back then, it wasn't absurd to think that Marcus Rashford was the real deal. The following season was highlighted with the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And this would force Rashford, who played more of a central forward position, to be pushed out and play more of a role out wide. And even though it wasn't what he was used to, the 19-year-old still did manage to score 11 goals and play somewhat of a factor in United winning the Community Shield, FA Cup, and even starting in the Europa League final. Still a teenager and a legitimate wonder kid, Rashford's value would continue to rise. And by the 2018-19 season, that would be manifested in him inheriting the number 10, following in the footsteps of club legends like Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney. Of course, being given that opportunity and carrying those insane expectations comes with immense pressure. But as young as 20 years old, Rashford wasn't phased one bit. Even under new management with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer taking the helm as United's manager, going on to have 21 goals and 13 assists in the 2020-2021 season. But everything changed in the summer of 2021. As we all remember, England would go on to lose the Eurofinal in penalty shootouts. And Rashford just happened to be one of those that missed his shot. Some people will speculate, but many do believe that this would greatly affect his confidence. Because by the following 2021-2022 season, Marcus Rashford would seemingly regress. And we're not just talking a lack of form here. On the pitch, he looked like a completely different player because that season was a pretty big year, especially with the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo. Now, to be fair, Rashford did have a shoulder surgery following Eurofinal. But again, as he returned, something was off. Not only was he barely producing any goals, but he was always losing possession and barely able to take defenders on. For many, it was quite a puzzling drop-off. But hey, at that point, Rashford was still pretty young. At 23 years old, he could still kind of be considered a wonder kid. So many people did kind of forgive him with the hopes that he would come back better than ever. But at the same time, there were a growing amount of people that suggested he never really improved much over the years to begin with. And there were even others that would already start to question his dedication to football. But quickly, those narratives would somewhat start to die down. Because this brings us to the very interesting 2022-2023 season. Now, this was the start of the Eric Ten Hag era. With a new manager came a new system. And after a dramatic and rocky start to the season, with all the Cristiano Ronaldo drama going on, and over the last few seasons with Rashford plateauing and seemingly regressing, he would turn all of that around and start to look like Man United's savior and only hope. He would have the best season of his career so far, scoring 30 goals and helping Manchester United finish third in the Premier League, even going on to end the season with the Carabao Cup. After a few seasons, United fans could finally see their wonder kid make big progress. Because really, at 25, there was still a narrative of him somehow still being a wonder kid. And let's be honest here, we all know how much English media loves their homegrown talent, only understandable. But still, there were non-stop chants of Marcus Rashford being considered by the media as world-class. Him being an English player having that kind of season, playing for a club like Manchester United that just had all that drama, you already know that his value was about to go parabolic. But instead of using that as a chance to liquidate him and get a lot of potential room in return, as Man United does, they would bust out that checkbook and decide to pay him an insane £325,000 per week in what would turn out to be a very controversial extension. Half the fans wanted to move on while the other half were confident that their wonder kid would still continue to get better. Because those that defend Rashford will always cite the 2022-23 season. But they have to remember, that was the same season that Chelsea had an utter collapse, as well as Liverpool being incredibly inconsistent. Not to mention Tottenham doing incredibly worse than normal. Aside from Man City, that was probably the weakest Premier League season in years. And I won't say that him doing that well and Man United getting third place was a fluke. But as we're seeing as other clubs are restructuring and getting their acts together, well, Man United's form has only continued to decline. Because by the start of 2024, he had only managed three league goals and eventually ended the season with a total of seven goals. And what made it worse was not only the poor form, but also the ever-increasing lack of effort. And added with his off-pitch behavior, like partying and showing up late for training or missing it altogether due to hangovers, it only made sense that a lot of fans were starting to turn on him. And when he would take it further by going to the media and saying that he felt attacked, sad and depressed from all the criticism towards him from supporters. Well, naturally that only made even more supporters start to dislike him. But even then, there are still pundits that would like to claim that Rashford will still continue to get better and that he's still young and has a lot of potential. And if you were still a fence sitter in that regard, well, the 2024-2025 season really does start to split the truth because for the last half-decade, the evidence of Marcus Rashford's inconsistency is only growing. It's not hard to see that Alejandro Garnaccio is not only more consistent, but is also producing more, has a higher work rate and, plain as day, looks more committed. And the problem with Rashford is something that managers that aren't very highly rated, like even Gareth Southgate, can clearly see. But again, lack of form aside, the most alarming thing about Rashford is really his behavior on the pitch. But when many fans can see, plain as day, that Rashford's effort and commitment is getting smaller and smaller, it definitely isn't helping his case. And with Man United being as poor of a form as they are now, sitting at 14th, a lot of fans will without a doubt run out of patience. But then again, there are those that will deflect the blame on Rashford, refusing to see him as anything else than their star boy and wonderkid, going on to criticize and blame anyone else. This 2024-2025 season is going to continue to look incredibly rough for Man United. And if he doesn't change his attitude on the pitch, he might very well turn into a Jesse Lingard or Anthony Marshall type of legacy. And with the memes going around about how Marcus Rashford is still a wonderkid at merely 27, having played in the Premier League for about a decade, a few seasons ago it was Harry Maguire, last season it was Anthony. And this season, the next running joke of the footballing community might very well be Marcus Rashford.