January 2022. Significant for being the month which saw Marcus Rashford score his final Premier League goal of the 2021-22 campaign, despite playing in 12 games thereafter.
Rashford only scored one more league goal (four) than the number of people he was managed by last season (three).
Such statistics lay bare the turbulence that beset Manchester United last season, with Rashford himself one of the most impacted by what many believe to the club’s worst campaign in the modern era.
But the 24-year-old has turned it around, and has been handsomely rewarded – with Sportsmail reporting on Sunday that Rashford and team-mate Jadon Sancho are set to be given timely England recalls, with the in-form stars given a final chance to prove their worth ahead of this winter’s World Cup in Qatar.
Manchester United have looked a revitalised team in the previous four games – with Marcus Rashford playing a key part in their renaissance
The turbulence of last season, compiled by Rashford’s post-European Championship shoulder surgery amid the heartbreak of missing a penalty and the racist abuse that came after followed by a subsequent loss of form, had contributed to the Englishman’s worst campaign since breaking into the first team in February 2016.
Rumours of a departure, possibly to PSG, circulated as winter turned to spring and then spring to summer with a nagging feeling that the one-time great hope of the post-Ferguson era-United needed a change of scenery to revitalise his ailing career.
In fact, all he appeared to need was an arm around his shoulder and willing runners around him to revive both his United performances – and with that a chance at making Gareth Southgate’s squad for the World Cup in Qatar.
Rashford has three goals and two assists so far this season – already almost at last year’s tally
Ten Hag’s arrival at the club in June signalled a positive mood change for the United forward, with the Dutchman admitting that he was willing to work with what he had to improve the club’s fortunes.
His insistence that the players press at all times, whether in a low block or trying to play expansively, signified a move away from Cristiano Ronaldo at the apex of the team, giving Rashford a chance through the middle.
‘I know only that I have my ideas, how I bring structure in a team and I do it in every topic of football. For me, pressing is an important factor. If you want to have initiative in a game I think it’s necessary,’ Ten Hag…