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Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney says Marcus Rashford must lead the club to regular trophies if he’s to reach the levels of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
The Red Devils announced on Tuesday that Rashford had signed a new and improved five-year contract at the club, making him the highest-paid player at Old Trafford.
Rashford netted a career best 30 goals in all competitions during 2022/23, firing United to Carabao Cup glory in Erik ten Hag’s first season in charge. The Dutchman also led United to a place in the FA Cup final, but they were downed by Ilkay Gundogan’s double at Wembley.
25-year-old Rashford has already played 359 games for the club in all competitions, eight years after Louis van Gaal handed him his first team debut against FC Midtjylland – a Europa League game that he scored two goals in to earn a romping 5-1 win.
But to cement his legacy at United, and push on to the next level, United’s record goalscorer Rooney reckons Rashford must regularly lead the club to trophy success.
“I think Marcus Rashford is an incredible talent. I’m delighted he’s signed a new deal,” Rooney, who now manages D.C. United in MLS, said.
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“The next five years for him are going to be really important in his legacy because he can score a lot of goals, but if he really wants to go to that level which Mbappe and Haaland are at then he has to be the man to get Manchester United back to winning trophies and league titles. I hope he can do that.”
“He is one of the parts of the jigsaw but also someone who could be the main man, the main player for Manchester United,” Rooney added to The Athletic. “He had a fantastic season. The challenge for Marcus now is to do it for the next five, six, seven years and really take his legacy to a new level. Because he is a player who could quite easily go and break my goalscoring record.
“The next five years for him are going to be really important in his legacy because he can score a lot of goals, but if he really wants to go to that level which Mbappe and Haaland are at then he has to be the man to get Manchester United back to winning trophies and league titles. I hope he can do that.”
Rashford has scored 123 goals for United to date, less than half of the 253 Rooney achieved during his time in the north west.
Maguire must move on – Rooney
Rooney also gave his thoughts on Harry Maguire’s situation at Old Trafford, with the defender stripped of the captaincy by Ten Hag in favour of Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes.
Maguire lost his place in the starting lineup last season, playing second fiddle to Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez, and even saw Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw play ahead of him in central defence when either player was rested or unavailable.
It’s a situation that Rooney stressed is untenable, with a departure from the club the best possible outcome for all parties.
“To have the armband taken off you, how does he move forward with the club?” Rooney said of United’s struggling number five. “That shows the manager really doesn’t believe in him. It leaves Harry in a position where he has to think on what he does moving forward. The manager has shown he is not part of the plans.
“I’m sure Harry will want to go and play – for himself, for his England career – to put himself in the best position to be as successful as he can.”
LISTEN NOW TO THE PROMISED LAND, 90MIN’S MANCHESTER UNITED PODCAST
On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders and Rob Blanchette are joined by Adam Thelwell from United Con to discuss Marcus Rashford signing a new five-year deal at Man Utd and Jonny Evans re-signing on a short-term deal. If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
Come and join us in Las Vegas from July 28th at United Con, the place to be for United fans to come together on their pre-season tour of the US. Visit united-con.com to book your place now.
