Marcus Rashford is ‘out of control’ and ‘has NO respect’ for Erik ten Hag as pundit says the forward thinks he’s ‘untouchable’ at Old Trafford.
Another week, another problem for Erik ten Hag and Manchester United. This time, it comes with a familiar name attached.
Marcus Rashford’s apparent disaffection with life at Old Trafford has come to the boil after he missed Sunday’s win at Newport following a trip to Belfast.
Rashford, as claimed, was unwell over the weekend and therefore not fit enough to travel with Ten Hag and his team to South Wales.
However, after being seen socialising in Belfast on Wednesday night, it now appears that the 26-year-old was out in the Irish city on Thursday as well.
United manager Ten Hag has not denied the story and has not taken the opportunity to refute suggestions he has been lied to by his star player.
Not surprisingly, the matter is a hot topic with pundits quick to tear in to Rashford for his alleged lack of discipline.
‘Marcus Rashford is like a good few Manchester United players at this moment in time,’ said Sutton.
‘He thinks he’s untouchable. This hasn’t been the first time where he’s had a misdemeanour. It’s been continuous. He has no respect for the manager and no respect for his teammates. That’s the bottom line”.
‘He’s probably thinking he is going to outlast Ten Hag anyway but he’s out of control as far as I can see.’
United sources reported that Rashford had become unwell after his night in Belfast on Wednesday and missed training because of that.
It was subsequent to this that images of him out in Ireland on Thursday also emerged. So far this has not been denied by Rashford or indeed the club.
Rashford has been in the spotlight before for the wrong reasons since Ten Hag became manager at the start of the 2022-23 campaign.
Last season he was dropped for a game at Wolves after being late for a team meeting while last autumn he was spoken to by his manager after going out to celebrate his birthday after playing in a United side outplayed and outclassed by Manchester City in a 3-0 derby defeat.
‘I feel sorry for Ten Hag”. The conversation continued.
“But essentially we know which way this is going to go. Ten Hag will eventually end up leaving and Rashford will stay on and all the Manchester United fans further down the line will love Marcus again because he’s ‘Manchester United through and through’. But his actions have been utterly disgraceful.’
Ten Hag has drawn a firm line in the sand in the pursuit of discipline and squad harmony since being hired from Ajax. He was quick to move Cristiano Ronaldo on and this season stood firm over Jadon Sancho, who has been loaned to Borussia Dortmund after refusing to apologise for taking a swipe at his manager on social media.
‘I’ll say a couple things here,’ said Ladyman.
‘I don’t know what Rashford’s view is on this is, whether he’s feeling unfairly maligned or put upon or unfairly criticised. I actually don’t know.
‘But what I do know is that at Manchester United, there is a view within the football club that Rashford is not having Ten Hag. That is what they feel inside that football club. That is what they feel. That has been communicated to me.
‘And if that’s the case, then it seems Ten Hag clearly is prepared to die on this hill of discipline. We’ve seen it with Sancho. Now we’ve seen it with Rashford. And if he does die on this hill, and if he does leave the football club then respect to him for that.
‘In terms of Rashford himself, my concern is that if he were to leave Manchester United – and he is contracted until 2028 – I think there’s a danger that he disappears.
‘And what I mean by that – hypothetically – is that if he goes to Chelsea, goes to Tottenham, goes to a club abroad, he could disappear into that void in which quite a few former Manchester United players have fallen previously.
‘There is quite a history of players leaving Manchester United and not going on to do very well, and he could be another one.’
Ten Hag’s team actually played quite well in beating Newport 4-2 on Sunday in the fourth round of the FA Cup. After the game, however, captain Bruno Fernandes criticised some of his team-mates for being greedy.
‘Everyone wanted to score and get their goal and sometimes we don’t get the best decision for the team,’ said Fernandes.
This left Sutton perplexed who said: ‘That’s pretty remarkable. The captain of Manchester United coming out publicly and just telling everybody that it’s everyone for themselves. That’s something which he should be saying within the confines of the dressing room. He’s just letting everybody know that things aren’t right.’
United’s next engagement is at Wolves on Thursday night in the Premier League. Whether Rashford is considered for selection will be telling but Ladyman thinks new United investor Jim Ratcliffe and incoming chief executive Omar Berrada have a myriad of squad issues to address going forward.
‘They’re going to have an awful lot of players to replace before long,’ he said.
‘I know we don’t know what will happen with Rashford but Sancho isn’t coming back anytime soon. Mason Greenwood isn’t coming back. Jonny Evans is on a short contract. How long is Casemiro going to stick around? How long is Christian Eriksen going to stick around? What about Raphael Varane?
‘All those players – even if only half of them go – they’ve got to be replaced. They may not all be good enough or they may not be performing, but they are bodies in the squad. They are going to need to be replaced.’