Marcus Rashford was there at the start of the Unai Emery project. He played in the Spaniard’s first two games at Aston Villa. Not for Aston Villa, admittedly: he was part of the Manchester United side beaten 3-1 in Emery’s auspicious debut, a scorer four days later as, in a Carabao Cup rematch, the new manager was condemned to a first defeat in charge. It capped a fine day for Rashford, who had been named in England’s World Cup squad that afternoon.
He was to score three goals in Qatar, 30 for United that season. At that point, encouragingly as Emery had begun, it felt implausible to say that, a couple of years later, he would be declaring that “it’s the constant ambition that is attractive”. Or not about Villa, anyway. Because if they had shown ambition even before hiring Emery – the previous season’s flagship signing was Philippe Coutinho, like Rashford a big name on big wages and a cautionary tale now – then he was shaping up as the poster boy of Erik ten Hag’s reign.
