Manchester United v. Marcus Rashford

Manchester United is embroiled in yet another dramatic season that has been riddled with issues - from sacking Erik Ten Hag to Sancho's exile to Rashford being shown the door. You could call United's season a rollcoaster of emotions, but as far as the team performances and results go, in order to have as many down's as one does at your local theme park, that would require up's and Manchester United has been suffering for too long to find (m)any of those.

Credit: BBC

One glaring issue that has been plaguing the club for years is the inclusion of Rashford nearly every week. While he has been dropped at times, he finds his way right back into the squad. He is on massive wages and every transfer window that passes by, United are reluctant to go out and get competition for his role. One could argue that Garnacho is to provide that competition, but he is arguably the understudy at times given his age and experience, while reinforcements for the opposite flank have instead been prioritized. However, Rashford is on £300,000/week, before bonuses, sponsorships and the like. For those wages, you expect...more. Now one can blame the club for handing him those wages in the first place, but that absolves Rashford from taking responsibility in demanding and accepting those wages in the negotiations - both parties are equally at fault.

Since then, we have made back of house changes, which addresses one half of the responsible parties, yet we are left with the other half putting in disastrous performances every match (sorry, showing up against Championship or Europa League teams does not instill confidence of Rashford's "return" to form).

Toxicity in the Dressing Room

I have maintained this position for many years, nor do I think it's isolated to Rashford exclusively at this point, but there has been a cancer spreading through the dressing room with each passing regime change. While he might not have been the source of it, I personally believe that Paul Pogba brought with him a heaping portion of toxicity to the dressing room with enough to go around thrice over. Was he the only disgruntled player to put on a jersey post Sir Alex Ferguson? Of course not. But with his re-signing, he brought with him a massive contract, fresh arrogance, and a lack of accountability supported by lazy performances on the pitch and poor behavior off it. During this period, you had the likes of Lingard, Rashford, Martial, and Greenwood, who were in a not too dissimilar position to Garnacho currently, influenced by Pogba and his professionalism, or lack thereof. As time went on, you saw the attitudes and work ethic shift in each of these players, need proof? Look at where they are today and how their careers evolved during their time at United and immediately following.

Rashford is one of the core members of the team who has been carrying that toxicity on his shoulders every day with how he conducts himself and how he presents himself to the media and the outside world by projecting a large-than-life character that does not justify the persona with performances. Does he help children? Yes. That's great. Does it come solely from him? Hard to say. This guy has a PR team whose responsibility it is to paint him in the best light, so one has to question the motivation for such campaigns. While it does not change the impact it has on the children, and many have been affected positively, it's not unlike millionaires and billionaires who make their money through despicable business practices that the general public does not agree with (translation: putting in pitiful performances on the field) while making massive donations to museums, children's hospitals and the like for financial benefits and still appearing as a benevolent benefactor to some cause.

Where do we go from here?

With all of that being said, enough is enough. Rashford needs to go. I am a staunch believer in him dragging this team down for too long (not the only one to be doing so) and there is no longer a benefit for the club, despite Ruben Amorim claiming he still has a role to play - I believe this to be purely political and nothing else. The ironic and hilarious thing is that Rashford is throwing a fit that the club has made it known he's available as soon as January without informing him first, however, where was the same kindness or gesture of notifying the other party before Rashford sat down to conduct his interview?

This entire saga has elements of Sancho and Ronaldo's end credits at United. Sancho biting the hand that feeds him and unable to exhibit humility and Ronaldo by sitting down for an interview signaling the end of his time.

Rashford should be dropped from all first time involvement and should be made for a cut price sale in January. His final minutes in a United shirt should be that appalling 45-minute display all fans were subjected to and not a second more. The modern footballer should be made an example of with the likes of United and Amorim allowing no place for this behavior to exist going forward if we expect a cultural shift and winning mentality to return to the dressing room.