With the start of the 2021/22 Premier League season fast approaching and players gradually returning to their clubs, reports have emerged that Marcus Rashford is set to undergo surgery on his shoulder injury which he sustained last November. The United and England man had been playing through the pain barrier for around 8 months. United’s medical department believe that Rashford is set to be side-lined for around 3 months. This would see the Englishman miss vital Premier League games against Everton, Leicester, Liverpool and Spurs.
Where does Marcus Rashford’s injury leave United heading in to the new season?
Rashford’s injury could possibly open doors to younger players in the squad. January signing, Amad, has looked lively for Ivory Coast at the Olympics, as well as 19-year-old academy starlet, Anthony Elanga. Elanga has impressed in pre-season fixtures against Derby County and Queens Park Rangers. The young Swede also bagged in United’s 2-2 pre-season friendly vs Brentford on Wednesday night; A goal which made it 2 in 3 pre-season games for United’s number 36. Mason Greenwood is also a player that Solskjær has learnt to trust playing out in the wide areas.
Previously, Manchester United fans had been quite fearful of losing Rashford to injury. This comes down to the lack of depth in Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s squad. However, this summers long-awaited arrival of Rashford’s good friend, Jadon Sancho, will have the United faithful feeling much more confident going forward. This is down to the 21-year-old winger contributing to 8 goals and 11 assists last season in the Bundesliga. The former Borussia Dortmund man recently completed his switch from Germany for £73m. Sancho will be looking to link-up with fellow South-London born man, Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right hand-side.
Marcus Rashford’s 2019/20 season
For Rashford, it hasn’t all been happiness and joy for Manchester United and England this season. Many United fans grew increasingly frustrated with the 23-year-old this season due to poor performances on a number of occasions. Rashford also lost two finals with club and country. This led to United’s number 10 topping a bizarre chart of be the most abused player on Twitter in the Premier League. An astonishing 28.5% of tweets aimed towards him being negative. However, Rashford has already bagged 88 goals and 66 assists in 270 Manchester United games, putting him 24th in United’s all-time goalscoring charts with the Englishman not turning 24 until October. Considering these amazing stats, United are most-definitely going to miss him.
Along with hate and criticism from a set of United fans, Rashford also received large amounts of vile, racist abuse. This was directed by England fans, after his penalty in the Euro 2020 final vs Italy. The miss also led to Rashford’s mural in Withington, South Manchester, defaced with horrible abuse aimed towards the young forward.
Just days later, large parts of the South Manchester community gathered around the mural in support of Rashford, as well as raising around £40,000. The Wythenshawe-born forward has decided to donate this to a food bank charity. Marcus Rashford has inspired many people across the country due to his work on-and-off the pitch, but are a small group of football fans not valuing a young, black, successful English footballer?
