Marcus Rashford, the view from Europe: ‘He was a ghost – now he’s elite’

He is a striker in the form of his life, at the heart of Manchester United’s revival under Erik ten Hag.

Marcus Rashford struggled for game time at United last season but has already scored 25 goals in this one as they travel to Liverpool this afternoon (Sunday), looking to stay in the title race.

During Sky Sports’ coverage of the Carabao Cup final win over Newcastle at Wembley a week ago, United defender Phil Jones (remember him?) described his team-mate as “probably, on current form, the best player in the world”.

It was a big claim… and it got us thinking: well, is this a view shared across Europe? Have observers on the continent taken note of Rashford’s hot streak? Or is this a classic case of British over-exuberance?

As United also prepare to host Spanish side Real Betis on Thursday in the first leg of a Europa League last 16 tie, we asked our experts.

Italy — ‘He was a ghost. Now for Ten Hag, he’s as good as Mbappe’ 

Rashford was the first England player to miss in the penalty shootout against Italy in the European Championship final in July 2021. Brought on late in extra time specifically for the penalties, the outcome was unfortunate, however, the Italian media still focused on their goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s heroics in saving two spot kicks rather than his effort which hit the post (as Donnarumma dived the other way).

Rashford was eclipsed then, and Italian interest in him faded. Even this year, United’s absence from the Champions League means visibility and attention there aren’t what they could be for their players.

Marco D’Ottavi of l’Ultimo Uomo, the online bible for ‘calcio cognoscenti’, observed that as recently as six months ago, Rashford’s time seemed to have come and gone in Italian eyes. “Not finished, sure, but let’s say he’d left the band — like John Frusciante,” an allusion to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ guitarist and Enrico Brizzi’s similarly-titled novel.

The Rashford renaissance has, to a limited degree, captured the imagination in Italy.

“He was a ghost,” was the headline of a dispatch from La Gazzetta dello Sport’s UK correspondent Davide Chinellato around Christmas time. “Now for Ten Hag, he’s as good as Kylian Mbappe.”

What about for Serie A’s clubs? Is he held in high esteem?

Unlike attitudes in England, where opinions have historically been formed on the absurdity of whether or not a player could do it on a wet and windy night in Stoke or, as in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s case, only after they ‘do it’ against England, there is respect and reverence in Italy for the Premier League. It is accepted that, as with Serie A in the 1990s, England’s top flight is the most competitive domestic league in the world. As a consequence, more weight is given to performances by players in this context.

Antonio Cassano made the same point while discussing AC Milan’s reigning Serie A MVP Rafa Leao on Bobo TV, the Twitch broadcast he stars in beside fellow ex-pros Christian Vieri, Daniele Adani and Nicola Ventola.

Mockingly dubbed the Oracle of Bari on social media for the number of times his predictions blow up in his face, Cassano’s opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt but he’s entitled to it and it is worth a listen anyway.

“Serie A is the fifth-best league in Europe,” Cassano has said. “At City, they have Jack Grealish, so why couldn’t Leao be there too? I don’t see him starting for a top club in Europe.

“Take Liverpool. They have Luis Diaz and you’re saying Leao would get a game… madness! Rashford is a much better player than Leao.”

And Cassano aired that opinion a few weeks before Rashford’s season caught fire. One can only imagine what he thinks now. Maybe he’ll call his next child Marcus, given he named one Lionel after Messi.

The calcio conversation in Italy remains dominated by events in Serie A and for that reason, the obsession there is not with Rashford but Victor Osimhen, just as it was with Dusan Vlahovic, Leao and Tammy Abraham last year and Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez the year before that.

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The low probability of a transfer to an Italian club in the near future — Chris Smalling and Nemanja Matic only left Old Trafford for Serie A much later in their careers — also means the focus is elsewhere.

James Horncastle

Germany — ‘He is a winner from Cristiano Ronaldo leaving’

Rashford has been in great form since before Christmas, perhaps his best run ever. He benefits from Ten Hag’s more structured playing style and also from the fact that his new manager’s approach has become more conservative after the start of the season.

Ten Hag realised early on after his arrival from Dutch giants Ajax in the summer that he needed to modify his setup and tone down the high press. United have been playing closer to their own goal, which has given Rashford more space to use his greatest asset: pace.

Last season, he almost had a negative influence on the team. He looked very low on confidence and like someone who needed a change of scenery. United and England wanted him to be their hero — maybe that was all a bit too much for him.

He carries himself completely differently now.

Rashford knows Ten Hag backs him, that he believes in him as a footballer, even if puts him on the bench for off-the-pitch reasons — as he did against Wolverhampton Wanderers in December. And Rashford has shown his manager that, in return, he can be relied upon.

After Ten Hag, Rashford is United’s second-biggest winner from Cristiano Ronaldo leaving. I don’t know if Ten Hag played a clever hand or simply got lucky that Ronaldo forced his exit mid-season but it undoubtedly helped him get a grip on the dressing room and put his ideas into practice.

I get the sense Bruno Fernandes, still the man that makes a lot of stuff happen in attack for United, also trusts Rashford more than he did Ronaldo at the end.

Uli Hebel commentates on Manchester United for Sky Germany, DAZN and his Klick & Rush podcast

First of all, it’s remarkable that a 25-year-old has scored 118 goals in 342 competitive games for a club of Manchester United’s size. Few players can combine dynamism, short turns and frightening pace with the ability to shoot hard and precisely with both feet the way Rashford does. Not even Erling Haaland.

In terms of technique in possession, Rashford’s the better player of the two, and he also has that drive towards goal and huge game intelligence. It doesn’t get much better.

He points to his head when celebrating a goal. That’s quite telling: the secret of his success can be found between the ears. For a long time, his career just went one way: up and up. He was the idol of the supporters, kids looked up to him even though he was still a kid himself.

Setbacks were always going to come.

He missed that penalty in the Euros final, suffered racist insults afterwards, went from idol to bogeyman. Then he comes back to his club but it’s no longer ‘R for Rashford’, it’s ‘R for Ronaldo’, and he’s not their most important forward.

Rashford needed one season to get to grips with all of that, time for himself to reflect and recharge. Once he was able to sort all of that out in his head, his feet could do their job again.

Ten Hag signing Wout Weghorst in January shows that he sees Rashford more as a winger than a centre-forward. He will never be Harry Kane, playing against deep opponents is not his game, but he can play through the centre when United counter-attack. He has to track back a little less in the middle, as well. Defensive work isn’t his forte. On the other hand, playing on the left makes it easier for him to isolate opponents.

That flexibility makes him such a good player.

United need more additions up top, though. They shouldn’t rely on his goals alone.

Sven Haist, English football correspondent for Munich-based newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung

I’ve always been a big fan of Rashford. He has superb pace and technique. I could never understand coaches not backing him. Now he’s showing that he will deliver if the manager backs him. It’s all a question of confidence. He’s good on the left, where he can cut inside onto his stronger foot, but could also play really well on the right.

I can see him play him more centrally, too — he’s got the skill set. He has the body to play with his back to goal, now he just needs to learn how to do it. I get the sense that he and the whole team are playing more freely after Ronaldo’s departure during the World Cup break. I was never a fan of his return to Old Trafford at age 36. Now, the responsibility is shared, and a player such as Rashford thrives on that.

Is he the world’s best striker? I don’t think anyone can touch Haaland and Mbappe at the moment, but he is next in line, right among the very best.

Mladen Petric, former striker for Fulham, West Ham United, Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund and Croatia

Spain — ‘One of the revelations of the season in world football’ 

There’s hardly a better way to make an impact in the Spanish press than outclassing one of their giants — and that’s exactly what Rashford has just done.

United’s European triumph over Barcelona acted as a statement for the local fans on how Ten Hag has awakened a talent that had largely been forgotten around Spain. This was because of his lack of progress at United over the previous season, but also because Rashford had never been able to nail down a starting spot for England.

Over the last few weeks, however, all of this has changed.

“He is an elite-level footballer. The high confidence he has now leaves it out of the question, he is a difference-maker. He has so many skills, the complete attacker,” said one of Barcelona’s players, who wishes to protect his identity, after facing the 25-year-old in the Europa League.

The biggest praise he received was obviously after the first leg, when he played a part in both United’s goals as they got a 2-2 away draw.

“Marcus Rashford was Barcelona’s nightmare”, was one headline in Barcelona daily Diario Sport after the match. “Ten Hag has recovered a footballer with world-class potential, as we could witness last night.”

Another Catalan-based sport newspaper, Mundo Deportivo, described him as “one of the revelations of the season in world football”.

During that match at Camp Nou, it was quite telling to see the game plan of Barcelona coach Xavi.

Ronald Araujo was used at right-back to give Rashford the same treatment Barcelona dish out to Vinicius Junior every time they face Real Madrid. With Araujo being the best one-on-one defender Xavi has in the squad, the plan was to match him up with United’s most in-form attacker. However, Ten Hag avoided it with a smart tactical tweak, switching Rashford from the left wing into a more central position.

The day before the second leg, Xavi was asked again about how he planned to stop United’s star.

“There will be no anti-Rashford plan,” he replied. “He’s an excellent player, in an extraordinary moment. But it is more of a collective thing. We’ll try to stop the whole squad.” The reality, though, is he brought Araujo back to his preferred centre-back position after assessing the damage Rashford did a week earlier.

The levels of attention over Rashford will drop a bit in Spain now. La Liga and the Champions League are the favourite competitions among local fans and the fact United are not in either one will take him out of the spotlight.

However, for now, that recent display from Rashford in Barcelona is firmly lodged in their minds.

Pol Ballus

(Top photo: Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)