Crucial Days Ahead for Rashford to Save His Football Career

Rashford, once the golden boy of United and the England national team, now faces a harsh reality… Either leave or comply with his coach. Marcus Rashford now has only two options: either leave Manchester United before the current winter transfer window closes next Monday, or accept the harsh assessment of his Portuguese coach, Ruben Amorim, about his position at the club and follow the instructions given to him, both on and off the pitch. If Rashford fails in both cases, his once-promising football career will head into the unknown!

Rashford is still only 27, but his level has significantly declined over the past year and a half, a period that also saw him miss out on the Euro 2024 Championship. It’s clear that time is running out for Rashford as a footballer, and it’s also evident that Amorim is in no mood to make concessions to accommodate United’s highest-paid player.

When asked after United’s tough 1-0 win over Fulham on Sunday whether Rashford has a way back into the team—given that strikers Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee have not performed as expected (neither has scored a goal since the start of 2025, and each has only one goal since December)—Amorim showed no encouragement that the door was still open for Rashford. Instead, he gave a harsh assessment of the striker who hasn’t made a positive impression on the new coach since his arrival at Old Trafford two months ago.

Amorim, when asked why he continues to overlook Rashford, said: “It’s always the same reason. It’s about training, the way I see what players need to do in training, in life, every day, and in every detail.” He added: “So, if things don’t change, I won’t change. It’s the same attitude towards all players. If you give your best, if you do the right things, we can count on all players. You can see the shortcomings we have on the bench. We lack speed in changing the game, and alternatives, but I’d rather it be this way than play unmotivated players. I’d prefer to put Jorge Vital (the 63-year-old goalkeeping coach) on the bench than a player who doesn’t give his best every day. So I won’t change in this regard.”

Amorim has taken a firm stance towards Rashford since excluding the English striker from the derby against Manchester City on December 15th. United won 2-1 without Rashford that day. Except for sitting on the bench in the home loss to Newcastle last month, Rashford has been absent from the squad in 10 of 11 matches and wasn’t included against Fulham either. The poor performance of Højlund revealed United’s lack of ferocity up front.

All managers look for any way to win, and most act pragmatically by relying on players they have issues with to achieve the results needed to satisfy fans and owners. But Amorim won’t turn to Rashford, despite the team’s struggles in attack. Apart from winger Amad Diallo, no United striker has scored since early December.

In general, it doesn’t matter who scores as long as the team wins or at least avoids defeat. But the problem now for Amorim and United is that the players expected to score show no signs of doing so.

Højlund, signed for £64 million from Atalanta 18 months ago, has failed to score in 11 matches, having played a miserable 57 minutes against Fulham at Craven Cottage without a single shot on target or touch inside the opponent’s penalty area. Even his substitute, Zirkzee, who came on in the last half hour, also failed to register a shot on goal. Zirkzee, signed for £36 million from Bologna, has scored just one goal in 14 matches, though he moved better on the pitch than Højlund during his time.

Amorim has made it clear what needs to happen, and time is quickly running out for Rashford. Now, he has only two options left: either leave or do what his coach has asked; otherwise, things will be extremely difficult for the player who was once the golden boy of Manchester United and the England national team!