Marcus Rashford is making the headlines again after scoring for England this week in their famous 3-2 victory over Spain in Seville. The goal mixed with the win has put some media into hyper drive about the 20 year old, that he is the next best player to emerge from England, but is that so?
Rashford does have a lot to be thankful for and most of that praise has to be lauded onto Louis van Gaal, the previous Manchester United coach. It was van Gaal that saw potential in the youngster and promoted him to the first team and played him. Perhaps van Gaal was reminded of a young Patrick Kluivert and his youthful Ajax team who stunned European football with a superb Champions League win in 1995.
If it wasn’t for van Gaal, Rashford may be playing in the English Championship because Jose Mourinho the current coach of United surely would not have spotted him in the youth set up. Mourinho has a habit of only catching the worlds superstars and rarely goes for youth, tending to loan these players out.
Rashford has proved over the last 3 seasons with United to be a good player but not a great one. Although we must take into account his age we could also look over to France and see that Kylian Mbappe is a year younger and has scored many more goals and won more trophies including the World Cup this summer. Mbappe is a special player and already being touted as a great. Of course we shouldn’t put too much pressure on Rashford but pundits suggesting that the player is a great one is wide of the mark and they are only repeating history and hyping up players to world class level when in reality they are not.
Rashford has never scored more than 7 Premier League goals in a season and this was from 35 games. His total for United is 33 goals from 130 games. If he was in his mid 20s this would be a poor record. But he should get a pass given his age.
No one is suggesting that Rashford is a poor player but the truth is Rashford should be happy that he is playing for a top 4 side in one of the strongest leagues in the world. As for Jose Mourinho he has worked with some of the best forwards in the game and though he can’t publicly say it he will feel that Rashford is not up to the level for his age just yet. Of course there is room for improvement, and for the advancement of Rashford’s career, let’s hope he is given the time to go and prove it before being hyped before his time.
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