Marcus Rashford needs a fresh start and Paris might be good for him

Marcus Rashford had a start to the season which suggested his issues with form haven’t yet been resolved. A fresh start would do him good.

There was a time when brows would furrow when conversation turned to the matter of whether Bukayo Saka or Marcus Rashford should be starting up front.

It was briefly the Lampard vs Gerrard of the TikTok generation. Which should it be in attack for England? Could both be accommodated in the same team? Both missed a penalty in the shootout at the end of the Euro 2020 final at Wembley and both were subjected to the most appalling racist abuse afterwards.

But a year on, the paths of these two players could not have diverged much further apart. On the first weekend of the Premier League season the differences seemed as marked as ever.

For Arsenal against Crystal Palace in the first match of the league’s season, Saka wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders but was effective nevertheless. At this time of year, transfer bedlam can make it easy to forget the talent already at your club’s disposal.

On Sunday afternoon at Old Trafford, Marcus Rashford played for Manchester United with the facial expression of someone who couldn’t make sense where he was or what he was doing.

It would be an exaggeration to say that he seems to have forgotten how to play, but this sometimes almost did seem to be the case. And that it might be ending like this is sad in its own way.

Rashford is from Manchester and came through their youth system. Every supporter knows that a player who does that is a bit special, and to see his time at Old Trafford now seemingly coming to some sort of end marks the closing of a chapter that might have ended very differently.

The good news for him is that at 24 years of age he still has the time to rebuild a career elsewhere, and he is exceedingly fortunate that there may be interest from PSG.

It’s difficult to think of many other players who need a move away from a club more than Rashford at Manchester United. There has already been considerable speculation about what the causes of this may be, but the very fact that the player himself seems more than agreeable to leaving for Paris tells a story in itself of what Rashford believes will revive a faltering career.

There could certainly be potential issues with getting such a transfer finalised. Rashford has just a year left on his Manchester United contract, but the club has the option to extend his deal for a year and has had a habit of doing this in…