In a Q&A on the Manchester United website last week, teen sensation Kobbie Mainoo was asked which attribute he would choose to take from one of his Red Devils’ team-mates.
And, rather than choose the strength of Harry Maguire or the box-crashing instincts of Scott McTominay, Mainoo instead highlighted the searing pace of one Marcus Rashford as something he would love to add to his own game.
“Maybe Rashy’s speed,” the 18-year-old said on MUTV. “Yeah, he’s rapid isn’t he!”
Rashford himself, a former Manchester United forward argues, would also benefit from taking one attribute from a player he shares a training pitch with at Carrington. Something a little more difficult to quantify than pace, but something no less useful.
Garth Crooks shares Marcus Rashford concerns
“Whatever you may think of Bruno Fernandes, he does give his heart and soul whenever he plays for Manchester United,” Garth Crooks tells BBC Sport, including the Man United captain in his Team of the Week after his brace away at Bournemouth on Saturday evening.
“Bournemouth should and would have wrapped this game up but for the never-say-die attitude of Fernandes.”
Crooks, as he tends to do, then went off on one of his trademark tangents. If only Rashford had Fernandes’ penchant for grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck, the Man United graduate picking up a rather unhelpful habit of going missing when his team need him the most.
“Marcus Rashford would be the best player in the world if he had his captain’s appetite and attitude towards the game,” adds Crooks, who had a loan spell at Old Trafford in the 1983/84 season.
“I have been one of Rashford’s biggest fans over the years, but he should be doing for United what Kylian Mbappe is doing for PSG right now. Somehow, he seems to have lost the heart for the battle.
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From 30 Manchester United goals down to eight
“Sure, he does his bit. But he’s far more talented than his recent performances suggest and seems to have lost his way. I’m amazed Fernandes or Casemiro haven’t been able to fire him up or inspire him. That said, if you need motivating whenever you put on the red shirt of Manchester United then something has gone terribly wrong.”
Rashford, in his last four seasons, scored 21 and then five. 30 and then eight. That, in a nutshell, epitomises the frustration around a forward who possesses all the natural talent of a Mo Salah or a Cole Palmer, but still appears to lack the mentality or the consistency – at the age of 26 – to really unleash all that potential.
Rio Ferdinand feels that Rashford’s Man United team-mates must shoulder their share of the blame, however. Speaking to The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, the legendary centre-half wonders if Rashford’s sluggish displays are not the cause of United’s issues, but a symptom of them.
“When you’re the biggest star, the light shines brightest on you. And in moments where it’s not going well, you’re the guy that takes all of the punches. It’s unfortunate for him,” Ferdinand argues.
“(Rashford) does show moments where he takes your breath away with some of things that he does. But he doesn’t do it enough. I don’t know if it’s the team, he hasn’t had a consistent team around him or the consistency of the managers being there.
“But you just look at the basics of his game. What’s he good at? He’s great at running in behind. As a defender, I wouldn’t want to play against him. He’d give me nightmares because he’s so quick, his timing his brilliant and he can finish as well.
“But either he doesn’t run in behind enough as he should, or he’s disillusioned (because) the ball isn’t coming.”