LONDON — Marcus Rashford has a week to save his career, but it may be too late before he finally realizes what’s at stake.
The Manchester United striker either seals his exit from Old Trafford before Monday’s transfer deadline or accepts Ruben Amorim’s brutal assessment of his situation at the club and makes the changes, on and off the pitch, which are required by his head coach. If he fails on both counts, then the 27-year-old will head into the wilderness with his once-promising career reduced to regret and what could have been.
At 27, and with his form evaporating over the past 18 months – a period which also saw him miss Euro 2024 and disappear from the England scene – Rashford is running out of time as a footballer, and Amorim is clearly in the mix. no desire to make concessions to accommodate United’s highest-paid player.
When asked after United’s narrow 1-0 win at Fulham on Sunday whether Rashford had a way back into the team because strikers Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee fail to deliver on their promises – neither have scored in 2025 and have only managed one goal between them since the start of December – Amorim had the chance to offer Rashford an olive branch and to encourage him by telling him that the door was always open. Instead, Amorim closed with a scathing assessment of the impression Rashford has left since arriving as manager two months ago.
“It’s the same, it’s always the same reason,” Amorim said when asked why he continues to overlook Rashford. “The reason is training, the way I see what footballers should do in training, in life, it’s every day, every detail.
“So if things don’t change, I won’t change. It’s the same situation for every player. If you do the most, if you do the right things, we can use every player. And you can see that today Today on the bench: we lack a bit of rhythm to change the game, move a few pieces.
“But I prefer it like this. I’ll put Vital (the 63-year-old goalkeeper coach, Jorge) before putting a player who doesn’t give his best every day. So I won’t change in that department.”
Amorim’s stance on Rashford has been firm since leaving the striker out of his squad for the derby against Manchester City on December 15. United won 2-1 without Rashford that day, and as well as being an unused substitute in a 3-0 home defeat. against Newcastle last month, the striker was absent from 10 of the 11 teams on the matchday. He was no longer involved at Fulham and it was Højlund’s poor performance in particular that exposed United’s lack of cutting edge.
All coaches have to find a way to win, and most are pragmatic enough to select the players they have problems with in order to get the results they need to satisfy fans and owners. But Amorim will not choose Rashford, despite the limitations of his attackers. Apart from winger Amad Diallo, no striker has scored for United since the start of December.
In general, it doesn’t matter who scores, as long as a team wins or, at the very least, avoids defeat. But the problem right now for Amorim and United is that the players who are supposed to be finding the back of the net are showing no signs of doing so.
Højlund, a £64million signing from Atalanta 18 months ago, extended his goalless streak to 11 games during a dismal 57 minutes at Craven Cottage in which he had no shots on goal nor any touches in the Fulham penalty area. His replacement on the substitutes’ bench, Zirkzee, left the field after 33 minutes without taking a shot on goal either. The £36million signing from Bologna has now scored one goal in 14 games, although he has helped link play better than Højlund during his time on the pitch.
Højlund clearly lacks confidence and, at just 21, he needs help from more experienced teammates, but when you’re playing as a number 9 for Manchester United, expectations are incredibly high and the Danish international isn’t there. not answer. Neither does Zirkzee.
United don’t have the financial wherewithal to sign a proven upgrade this month, so there will be no Viktor Gyökeres Or Victor Osimhen arriving at Old Trafford ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline, especially as Amorim’s side need a player of this caliber to strengthen the squad.
With three years left on his £325,000-a-week contract at Old Trafford, Rashford is no bargain for rival clubs and with three weeks of the window up he is still at United having failed so far to get a start. of the club, despite interest from AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund. Sources have told ESPN that Rashford hopes Barcelona can increase their interest in a loan deal by offloading players to free up space on their wage bill, but there are no guarantees, and it is just as likely that he is always in Old. Trafford next Tuesday because he has to be elsewhere.
Rashford has not touched a ball for United since the Europa League win over Viktoria Plzen on December 12, but it is now up to him to change that. Amorim made it clear what needed to happen; the clock is ticking.
Rashford can either leave or do what his manager wants. The alternative is not worth considering for a player who was once the golden boy of United and England.
