Marcus Rashford will have to think long and hard about his lifelong love affair with Manchester United, as his World Cup hopes crumble.
Since Christmas, Rashford has started just four games in the Premier League and Champions League, and was substituted in every one of the contests. He has been on the bench for almost all of Ralf Rangnick’s reign, and used only sparingly as a sub in seven matches.
The lack of game time has affected his form badly, and that saw him miss out on selection for Gareth Southgate’s England squad in the current international break but should he leave Old Trafford - with Arsenal interested - it would be "heartbreaking" for the striker to leave club he joined aged seven.
That’s the view of legendary striker Robbie Fowler…and he should know because he’s been there himself in his illustrious career. The former England man says he knows what Rashford is currently going through, with his international career stalled because of a lack of game time with Manchester United - and he insists it could affect the forward’s mental health.
Fowler faced a similar agonising dilemma when he was at the height of his powers with Liverpool, as a young striker with the world at his feet playing for the famous club in the city of his birth. The forward insisted that he “didn’t want to leave Liverpool, I loved the club”, but in 2001, with a World Cup looming the following summer, he shocked the football world with a move to Leeds.
He said: “I loved Liverpool - I still love Liverpool - and I really didn’t want to move, but when it came to it, I was being squeezed out so often, I felt I was left with no choice. I was at the height of my career, but in my mind was being treated so unfairly that for the sake of my sanity as much as for my career, I felt I had to go. It’s not an easy call to make. I was heartbroken when I had to leave Liverpool, and never really came to terms with that decision.
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"I know how Marcus will feel. He loves United like I love Liverpool and he will be thinking he can’t turn his back on the club where he grew up. But he has a big decision to make, because he’s not getting any game time. That hurts. It always hurts, it used to destroy me every single time I was left out. And when you’ve been at the very top, you proved yourself at the highest level, it affects your sanity when you’re not playing.”
With a World Cup in Qatar at the end of this year, that is a worrying sign for the forward, but Fowler thinks he will be thinking about his future - and a possible move in the summer - because of the frustrating of not playing. He added: “It will have him thinking hard about his future, I can guarantee. I know, because I was in that place in a similar way when I was supposed to be at the height of my career, just as he is now.
“It will hurt him. And it will bring home hard just how he has stalled right now. And he will be questioning whether he has to move to get the game time and support he needs. He’s a bright lad, he understands how these things work. He knows when he’s not getting regular game time his form will dip, and he knows when he does come into a far from fluent team, it is not easy to find that form.”
Fowler took the shock decision to move to Leeds, because he was pushed out by then manager Gerard Houllier, even though he had one of the best strike rates and goalscoring records in Liverpool history. He admits to agonising over the move for months before he finally felt he had no choice to accept the transfer. And he feels Rashford will be faced with a similar situation this summer.
Fowler wrote in his Sunday Mirror column: “Does he need a fresh start? It’s hard to say, and only he will know. But there is a World Cup finals this year, and being dropped from the England squad is a stark message he will have to listen to. Let’s get it straight, you have to earn your place in football, in the team, in the international side. He knows he has done that. But is it down to his situation at United?
“There will be plenty of clubs interested. But I suspect he may well wait until he knows who the next Manchester United will be, perhaps even wait to talk to him. If he gets the right answers, then he can stay at Old Trafford and still have time to turn his form around for the World Cup. "
