Soccer

Marcus Rashford considering United future due to lack of game time

Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag have been sounded out about manager position

Marcus Rashford is understood to be unhappy with a lack of game time at Manchester United. Photograph: Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images

Fabrizio Romano
Jamie Jackson
David Hytner
Mon Mar 7 2022 - 09:16

Marcus Rashford is considering his future at Manchester United after growing unhappy with his game time under Ralf Rangnick. The forward hopes the situation will improve but is giving serious consideration for the first time to asking for a move from his boyhood club.

Since Rashford played the whole of United’s draw at Newcastle on December 27th, he has started only two of the team’s 11 Premier League matches. On one occasion was he unavailable because of injury, twice he was an unused substitute and Sunday’s 4-1 defeat at Manchester City was his sixth appearance from the bench in that period.

Although Rashford started the Champions League last-16 first leg at Atlético Madrid and the FA Cup ties against Aston Villa and Middlesbrough – United’s three other matches this year – he is frustrated at not playing more. He missed the opening two months of the season because of a shoulder operation.

The 24-year-old has a contract to 2023 and the club are understood to have an option to extend for a further year. Rashford, who has spent his whole career with United, has effectively fallen behind Anthony Elanga in the Rangnick’s thinking.

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Rangnick will remain in interim charge only until the end of the season and Rashford must weigh up whether he thinks the picture will improve for him under the next manager. The England international would welcome any clarity the club can provide. There is no guarantee United would accede to any transfer request, with Rashford one of their most valuable assets.

United are fully engaged in their search for a permanent manager, with Paris Saint-Germain's Mauricio Pochettino having slipped from being the favoured candidate to being ranked alongside Ajax's Erik ten Hag.

Although United are not restricting their shortlist to that pair, the title defence of Ten Hag’s team, in leading the Eredivisie by two points with nine matches left, has increased admiration at the club for the 52-year-old.

Pochettino remains a strong candidate – and he is seriously interested in the job – although United are worried that it may be difficult to extract him from PSG.

The French club, whom Pochettino has guided to the top of Ligue 1 – 13 points clear of second-placed Nice, who beat them on Saturday – have the Argentinian under contract until 2023. The attitude of the PSG hierarchy is that Pochettino will fulfil his contract unless they decide to sack him – in other words, he leaves only on their terms.

They are not about to lose face by allowing him to walk out to join another high-profile club. Pochettino knows that, fairly or otherwise, he will be judged at PSG on whether he can win the Champions League. His team go to Real Madrid on Wednesday night for the second leg of their last-16 tie with a 1-0 lead.

The United executive have contacted Pochettino and Ten Hag regarding potentially becoming Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s replacement. – Guardian

Manchester UnitedErik Ten HagMarcus RashfordMauricio Pochettino