Garth Crooks has backed Erik ten Hag's decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo for Marcus Rashford because he's 'part of Manchester United's past'.
Ronaldo, 37, has started just one Premier League game this season and that was last month's 4-0 loss to Brentford. The Portuguese has featured in all six of United's fixtures so far, although most of those appearances have been from the bench without scoring.
Rashford, meanwhile, has started all of United's games this term. The 24-year-old played on the left of the front three in the defeats to Brighton and Brentford but has been deployed as a centre-forward for their last four games - all of which were won by Ten Hag's side.
Rashford scored twice and provided an assist in United's 3-1 win against Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday. The England international also found the net in the 2-1 victory against bitter rivals Liverpool and assisted Jadon Sancho's winner against Leicester.
Rashford endured a nightmare campaign under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick last year, scoring just five goals in all competitions. It was the worst return of his career to date after finding the net 43 times between August 2019 and May 2021.
Ronaldo, who has just one year left on his existing deal, looks set to play a supporting role for United this term. BBC Sport pundit Crooks has urged Ten Hag to continue playing Rashford up front and wants to see the Red Devils boss get the best out of Rashford.
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"It would appear that Rashford has won the battle with Cristiano Ronaldo to start games for Manchester United," wrote Crooks in his Team of the Week column.
"Erik ten Hag has made the right decision of course. Rashford is part of United's future and Ronaldo, sadly, is part of United's past. It comes to all great players of course. However it's time to see if Rashford can take United back to the glory days. That is what he must achieve if he is to lead United's attack and leave Ronaldo on the bench.
"To do that Rashford must score goals and plenty of them. He looked good against Arsenal and took both his goals well but in order to be the best he will need to keep focused to maintain the consistency that was lacking last season."
Ten Hag has insisted Ronaldo will play a vital role in United's season. The Red Devils will compete in four competitions this term - the Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and EFL Cup. They haven't won a trophy since their Europa League success in May 2017.
"We need quality players," insisted Ten Hag when asked about Ronaldo's future in August. "You need more to cover all the games to keep the consistency going. That's what we strive for."
Ten Hag added after the Arsenal win: "He [Ronaldo] showed it last year and not that long ago so now he needs to fit in our way of playing, if he does that, he will decide the games because of his capabilities."
