Manchester United’s future may lie in their forward line’s past. They have long thought as much. It is just that they had picked the wrong part of their past. There was the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer nostalgia project and the attempt to turn back time with Cristiano Ronaldo. Suffice to say that neither ended well. But, in the post-Ronaldo era, their attack is now based around two men who debuted five managers ago under Louis van Gaal.
At 25 and 27, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are young to be described as part of United’s history. If some had their way after last season was the poorest of each’s career, they could have been consigned to the ranks of the Old Trafford old boys. Instead, Erik ten Hag has instead made each central; literally in the case of Martial who, while injuries had restricted his appearances, had seemed his first-choice striker since the summer, and figuratively for Rashford, who now feels the dominant figure in the attack.
