Marcus Rashford: Our Number One Striker For the Next Decade?


                                                                       Source: Getty Images

In February of 2016, a Manc born and bred came onto the scene at Manchester United and Old Trafford. Being a replacement for the thin attacking options versus Midtjylland in the Europa League, Marcus Rashford started his rise to fame.

The completely unknown 18 year old academy graduate, with number 39 on his back, scored twice on his debut, and 90 minutes later he was certainly not unknown anymore. From there on, he kept writing new chapters in what seemed to be a something out of a fairy tale. Two goals on his Premier League debut versus Arsenal, scoring the winner at the Etihad in the Manchester Derby, winning the FA Cup and once again scoring on his debut, this time for England.

The sky rocketing development of Marcus Rashford was one of the few positives during the van Gaal era, where the Dutchman´s possession based and slow football was, to say the least, not popular at Old Trafford. But was Marcus Rashford a one hit wonder? Would he diminish like so many other academy graduates have through the years? Or was he destined for something bigger?

3 years since he burst onto the scene, he has, objectively, not lived up to the massive hype. Still, he has provided us with moments of pure class which have shown just how special of a footballer he is and can be. His back heel  goal versus West Ham, his brilliant goal versus Liverpool at Old Trafford and his near impossible goal versus Brighton are all moments that have shown that the kid can indeed play football. 

During this season, Marcus Rashford was under Mourinho and mostly placed on the bench, many times unfairly, in favour  of Romelu Lukaku, who so far has had a season to forget. But after the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 21 year old Marcus Rashford has flourished into what can only be described as a world class striker. Scoring five goals in four games under Solskjaer, including the brace versus Tottenham, he has, on his own merit,  benched Romelu Lukaku. For a 21 year old that is not all that bad, and he is time and time again showing exactly why he was handed
the number on his back worn by legends, the number ten.

Considering his age and how brilliant the 21 year old from Wythenshawe is, it would not, in my opinion, be wrong to say that we may have a striker for the next decade in Marcus Rashford. If he is guided the right way, used in the right way and most importantly believed in, there is no reason to suggest otherwise. 

Manchester United have been waiting for a local academy lad to set the world alight again for a long, long time. Well, they do not have to wait any longer. They have Marcus Rashford, a Manc born and bred who is ready to do just that.

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