Marcus Rashford’s time at Man Utd is over!

Marcus Rashford, who might be an option if Kane isn't fit enough down the middle, Rob. And some interesting quotes, and he's not been shy on implying things about Manchester United, you would say, since he's headed off to Barcelona on loan. Yeah, he's been quite outspoken, hasn't he? Look, Marcus Rashford has done an interview with ITV ahead of tomorrow night's game with Gabriel Clarke, and he's talked about the inconsistent environment at Manchester United that didn't suit him, which he didn't feel brought out the best in him. And look, you can understand a little bit of what he's saying. There's been an awful lot of inconsistency and a lot of change at Manchester United, not only in the managerial position, but in terms of the personnel and the way that United want to play. So we know it's been a difficult time for Marcus Rashford at United. I don't think there's any surprise in that, and he's not gone out and criticised Ruben Amorim or criticised the club. I think it was a fairly objective view of what's been a difficult time for him. The interesting thing for me is that he's still got, after this season-long loan at Barcelona, two more years left on his Manchester United contract. We know that Barcelona have an option to buy him, and we wait to hear whether they will exercise that option. From what we've been told, they're not going to consider that until much later on in the season and see what their resources are and how Rashford's done later on in the season. But he's certainly made an explosive and impressive start, hasn't he? Especially in the Champions League. Another huge talking point is Marcus Rashford in the England set-up and in the Manchester United set-up. With those two years plus the rest of this season left on his Old Trafford contract, can you ever imagine a scenario where he'd go back and thrive at Old Trafford? Certainly that's something that the club seem to think is still a possibility. I think the club might think that, but I don't think Marcus Rashford thinks that. Maybe his time's over now at Manchester United, because if that was an opportunity for that, he would have taken him back this season. He had a good spell at Aston Villa last season, and I thought this was the prime time. You can see at the moment he's gone to Barcelona. He's taken his game to another level. We were seeing Marcus Rashford playing with a smile on his face. He looks sharp, he's scoring spectacular goals, he's assisting. I think that ship sailed for him to go back to Manchester United. Listen, as you just said, he's still got two more years, so it's up to Manchester United what happens with him. But I think for both parties, it'll probably be at the end of the season, Marcus Rashford moves on, because he's doing ever so well at the moment. I think he's a top talent. He's letting his feet do the talking now, and it looks like he's concentrating at the moment, so long may it continue. Is there any comparison between Ruben Amorim and Mikel Arteta that is fair, do you think? I don't think so. I think it's a little bit unfair to Mikel Arteta to say that he had a Arsenal. If you actually look at the records, in his first season at Arsenal, because he joined midway through the season, Arsenal ended up winning the FA Cup. They also won the Community Shield. I think in their second game with him in charge, they beat Manchester United. After a couple of months, they won back-to-back league games. After a year, Amorim hasn't won back-to-back league games. In his first two seasons, Arteta finished eighth, and then I think they finished second twice, and now they're top. Look at that. They never finished 15th under Mikel Arteta. Also, I think Mikel Arteta was far more flexible when it came to his tactics, and for what it's worth, I think he was better at dealing with the media than Ruben Amorim has been. I think Jim Ratcliffe was being a little bit unfair to Arteta, and I'm sure if Arteta does read the quotes, he will probably be thinking, hey, why has Jim Ratcliffe dragged me into this? Things may have been not great when I started off at Arsenal, but I turned it around pretty quickly. Also, in the six years that Arteta has been in charge at Arsenal, I think the club's revenues, it's not down to him solely, but the revenues at Arsenal have gone up by 55%. In the same period at United, revenues have gone up just 5%. What about Sir Alex Ferguson, then? Are comparisons with his first few years justified? Well, I'm old enough to remember Sir Alex Ferguson being appointed United manager, and I've got to say again, I'm not sure it's fair to bring Sir Alex Ferguson into this, because when he joined United, United were in trouble towards the bottom of the table. I think he joined in November 1986, but in his first full season in charge, Manchester United actually finished second in the league table behind Liverpool, and okay, after that, they finished mid-table a couple of times. It did take him six full seasons before he won the title, but United hadn't won the title for something like 20 years when he took over, and he was under a lot of pressure, especially in 1990 when there were calls for him to be sacked, but United ended up winning the FA Cup that season. So I think it's perhaps fairer to compare Amirim to Ferguson rather than compare him to Arteta, but still, I think Sir Alex Ferguson, could you compare the way he dealt with the media to the way Amirim deals with the media? Could you compare the way he was flexible with his tactics to the way that Amirim sticks to his formation? Also, I remember back in the 80s under Sir Alex Ferguson, United may have been going through tough times, but they still had legendary United players, players like Brian Robson, and if you look around the squad at the moment, you've got to say Sir Alex Ferguson had much better players, players with more character, more personality, and players who understood what it meant to play for Manchester United, even though frequently results weren't that great. And then what did you make of the comments that Manchester United would become the most profitable club in the world? Again, I mean, it's all well and good being ambitious, but I think if you look at the figures, you would have to say it's difficult for United to achieve that. On the plus side, their most recent accounts, they had record revenues of £667m. That means they're fourth in the list of the clubs worldwide with the highest revenues. United 6-6-7, Real Madrid £900m. How are United going to catch Real Madrid? Well, they need to get back into the Champions League. United's pre-tax loss in their most recent accounts down from £131m to £40m. Over the past three years, United's losses before tax totaled £203m. So it's difficult to see how United is suddenly going to become the most profitable club in the world, but Jim Ratcliffe has a plan. It is going to take time. And to be fair to him, he has put his money where his mouth is, because he's put in, I think, around £240m of his own money into the club. Kobe Mino, and not just this club, is that he's clearly a talented player on the ball, right? He played the final of the Eurohouse. We've seen this. We've seen it as a teenager. He's 20 years old now. He's still a young man. Isn't this a case of taking that talent and working with him and trying to help him about the defensive aspects of his game? I'm sure Casemiro, I'm not comparing the two, right? And I'm not comparing any defensive midfielder. But anybody at 20, generally in that position, is a bit wet behind the ears, letting a runner go here or there, being out of position. Surely you work with that. Surely you go in and you go, this guy can play. Because when you play a gaffer, you roll the ball into him, he can't pass it. He might be able to track a runner, but he can't pass it. So why it seems to me that Ruben Amiri has gone in, and anybody he just doesn't like, or doesn't fancy, he doesn't seem to want to work with them to make them better. He just chucks the baby out of the bathwater. It seems interesting, his choice of words, work with him. Because it looks like the work rate on that side isn't there. Any coach who has a player who he thinks isn't given the role, will quickly, when it comes to having to play either one guy or another, that guy's getting shoved away. And the fact that you're talking about him playing for England in the Euros, probably because he got covered up. Because he didn't have to do as much defending. Because he was playing in a team that actually just suited what he was good at. And that part of his game was covered up by others. But at United, nobody's covering in and up for anybody else at United. And so, if you're the coach at United, and you're watching Manu, time after time, letting people run off them, and not looking as though it's hurting you to let people run off you, and looking as though you're not that bothered about it, you're going to the bottom of the pile. So, are we having a different conversation, we are, about Manu, than the others that we mentioned? The Antonis, the Rashfords, the McTominays, the Hoylands? I don't think we should lump them all together, to be honest. I think they're a problem. They all individually had a problem. No, but what I'm saying is they've excelled to a point since they've left, yes? Well, yeah. What you're talking about Manu is, is his problems more than just Manchester United? Right now, while he's at Man United, and whilst the manager is still there, right now, then he's got no chance. No, I know that, but if he leaves Manchester United, will we see a different... But has anybody said Kobe Mano's... I've not read publicly, somebody at Man United saying Kobe Mano's attitude's a problem. No, Stevie seems to... I'm not saying his attitude's a problem. I'm telling you that, if the coach... If I'm coaching a team, and there's somebody in my team who I know on the ball is fantastic, but who doesn't seem to care as much about going the other way, you're going straight to the bottom of the pile. I'm going to put somebody who's not maybe as talented, but who I know is going to work hard. I mean, it's kind of... So you're saying regardless of where he is, he doesn't have it? I would suggest that, unless he can go somewhere, because right now he ain't playing at United, so if he goes somewhere, and somebody, as Craig said, maybe spends more time with him, and encourages him, and isn't going to jump on him as quickly as Amarim has, then he might get better. I just don't see how... I just don't see that part of his game ever being top class. So the other players on that list, the difference... Forgetting Kobe Mino as a sort of youngster who's still potentially got a long way to go in his career. I'm never a big fan of Anthony at Man United, particularly the price tag and how he performed, but his work rate wasn't a disaster, not to my knowledge. Scott McTominay could never fault his work rate, and now he's been brilliant at Napoli. Rasmus Hoyland could never fault his work rate, now he's been, short term, been magnificent in Italy, at Napoli. Marcus Rashford is the sort of one that sticks out. Marcus Rashford was not poor at Man United, like the others, for work rate, what it was for work rate. The others were not. His was attitude. I don't know about Kobe Mino, but I can tell you about Marcus Rashford. He was pretty much disgraceful for quite some time. Now, we could argue till the cows come home whether Amarim and United handled it the right way. I don't know. Nobody was right. Both could have been sort of wrong. But it was staring you in the face, watching him, talking about letting people run off him, talking about no desire to do any defending. That was him. And the others just didn't perform, and they got a move, and it's kind of working out for them, but they tried at Man United. They put their shift in, and it just wasn't happening. Rashford, that wasn't the case for him. His was a completely, his was just a up here in the brain. And so that's why he is a lucky, lucky boy to get the move that he has at this moment, and potentially, potentially taking it to another level. Marcus Rashford has blamed an inconsistent environment for his struggle to maintain his best form in recent seasons. The forward accepts he needs to improve his reliability, but suggested his Manchester United surroundings did not provide the best platform for him to perform at the peak of his powers. Rashford, 27, joined Barcelona on loan at the start of this season and has thrived since settling in at the Catalan club. Barca had reservations over signing the England international, but now appear happy to activate the option in his deal to sign him permanently. The United Academy product leads the La Liga side in goal contributions. The attacker has scored three goals and provided five assists in his last seven outings for Barcelona. The forward's form follows a difficult period. Rashford dropped out of United's first team plans following Ruben Amram's arrival before moving to Aston Villa on loan, and being a member of United's bomb squad while his teammates went on pre-season tour this summer. Rashford has worked under eight different coaches at United since making his debut under Louis van Gaal in 2016. The period has seen Europa League and FA Cup success for the Red Devils but they have failed to find the success realised under Sir Alex Ferguson. And Rashford is hoping to bring some consistency to his life and the way he trains to discover his best form once again. Consistency is a massive part of it, he told ITV. I feel like I've been in an inconsistent environment for a very, very long time. So it's even more difficult to be consistent then. Consistency is what I need to bring into my game. In looking to do that, I want to be at my best, not sometimes, but as often as possible. When people talk about consistency, in order to be consistent in anything, not just sport, you need consistent variables in your life, in the way you train and we've just had so many changes so far in my career. I have to look forward and that's definitely one of the things I want to put right and improve on and to be at my best more often. When I'm at my best I really enjoy everything about the sport, so being there is a special thing for me.