Marcus Rashford missed an open goal against Como on Sunday. He then took aim at another in his chat with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards when the topic of Manchester United came up this week.
By all evidence, it was a good conversation over his new dining table in Barcelona – intelligent and spiky in a few of the right places. But none of it strayed far from what we already knew about the dysfunction of United since 2013.
‘Transition’ was Rashford’s buzz-word and a club lost in ‘no-man’s land’ was his headline. It would seem his loan to Catalonia has freed him to share these thoughts about the changes, pivots and abandoned plans that provoked a doom spiral.
Ordinarily, this would be an easy argument to land. A tap-in against a club that has changed managers six times since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and succeeded mainly in finding more chaos.
But there’s also an inconvenient theory closer to home, which is that the patient transition Rashford spoke of to Lineker and Richards, and yearned for on behalf of the club where he was raised, might finally be happening. The irony being that if it comes to pass, Rashford is nowhere to be seen because of his own actions. He could have been part of the transition, driving it on, but instead occupies the no-man’s land of a loan assignment.
Of course, predicting big things of United is a mug’s game given the woeful nature of Ruben Amorim’s first season.
Marcus Rashford (left) dismantled Man United’s ‘transition’ that has followed the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in a frank discussion with Gary Lineker (right) on Wednesday
It would seem Rashford’s loan to Barcelona has freed him to share these thoughts about the changes, pivots and abandoned plans that provoked a doom spiral at Old Trafford
However, there is also a school of thought that, for now at least, he ought to keep his counsel
But it would be foolish to overlook the optimism around Old Trafford and Carrington at present. Maybe those are the delusions of summer, when hope sprouts with each blade of a new pitch, but objectively we can say there has finally been an outbreak of sense at the club. It feeds in from several key areas.
Some at the club dispute the notion that a dilution of Sir Dave Brailsford’s powers amounted to a failed job on his part. But plainly his absence has put more decision-making authority in the hands of those among a tighter leadership structure with serious experience in football.
Distancing an individual who, according to sources, had been parodied in private by some colleagues can hardly be a bad thing. Same goes for board-level backing for a manager when expensive assets, including Alejandro Garnacho, act up – the tail has evidently stopped wagging the dog.
Of greater, tangible benefit is the recruitment set-up, which for 12 years supported Rashford’s depiction of a club with no clear idea of where to travel.
That Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo were prioritised as players with Premier League experience, and then secured well in advance of the opening weekend, was the most coherent action by the club in an awfully long time. The signing of Benjamin Sesko also gives Amorim the rare luxury of a forward suited to his system.
If that all proves to be another false dawn, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe finds himself regretting the clemency he showed Amorim, as he did Erik ten Hag, then Rashford’s comments can be played on loop.
But there is also a school of thought that, for now at least, he ought to keep his counsel. Because Rashford, too, is in transition. A period where he needs to decide what he is, what he is about, and make it stick.
If it doesn’t work for him at Barcelona, where a regular starting spot requires the dislodging of Raphinha, his next landing will be far rougher.
Rashford is in transition – he needs to decide what he is, what he is about, and make it stick
Aged 27 and two seasons removed from his last sustained periods of great quality, there is a clear urgency to his situation. Within it is also a need for personal accountability – Rashford as much as Amorim was responsible for his circumstances of having no fixed abode. The player wasn’t suited to his manager’s system, and that is a common, unfortunate quirk of change, but it is also a regrettable fact that Amorim wasn’t alone in querying his effort and commitment. Ten Hag did the same.
All of which might feel like water under a broken bridge. But you have to wonder if Rashford feels a few regrets about how he has found himself unwanted at home. Had he knuckled down and kept his counsel, he could have been part of the solution and not one of those considered a problem. He instead chose a different path.
Most of us will wish him well in Catalonia, because aside from memories of an extreme talent, he is a good person – that has been demonstrated in forums far broader than football. Hopefully Barcelona will be the place where he re-establishes himself in the day job.
But beautiful as the city and club are, this is only a loan. It is time for Rashford to focus on his own need for change.