Jose Mourinho says Alexis Sanchez’s arrival will not adversely affect Marcus Rashford’s role at the club.
While Alexis Sanchez’s capture from Arsenal was hugely exciting for Manchester United, it did cast doubt over Marcus Rashford’s future. The fact is that, with another attacking player added to the ranks, the competition for places grew even more intense – with Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp even going as far as to say Rashford should leave the club in a pursuit for more regular starting opportunities.
Mourinho doesn’t agree. While addressing the media ahead of United’s crunch trip to Wembley to face Tottenham on Wednesday, the United boss reassured fans that Sanchez’s arrival will not impact the amount of opportunities Rashford is afforded, despite competing with Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard for spots in the line-up.
“Marcus’ story is quite interesting because he started playing with Mr [Louis] Van Gaal, when the team was really in trouble, to have options,” said Mourinho.
“Then the monster that kills the little kids arrived, but he plays every game since then. He plays every game, starting or coming from the bench, as a striker, as a left winger, as a right winger. Then he goes to the national team.
Jose Mourinho when asked about Marcus Rashford…
"The monster that kills the little kids arrived but he plays every game since then…" 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/FlZzYrBWei
— Stretford Paddock (@StretfordPaddck) January 30, 2018
“The kid is having a hell of an experience at every level, so an amazing future waits for him and being surrounded by these players can only help him. But the whole story of Marcus — will he get minutes and matches? — that story is really old, because he’s a very important player for us.”
“In attack, it’s difficult for us to improve. Where are we going to get a better combination of players than we have? We cannot buy Lionel Messi, we cannot buy Cristiano Ronaldo – these are the best players of the last decade.
“Where can we get better players than Mata, Martial, Lingard, Rashford, Alexis, Lukaku? In attack, we have an amazing group of players.”
The image of Mourinho as someone who ‘doesn’t give youth a chance’ doesn’t quite hold up to scrutiny. Rashford has remained a prominent presence in the first-team, while Jesse Lingard is currently enjoying the form of his life. Academy graduate Scott McTominay is another one who has been gradually integrated into the senior set-up. In addition, the United manager has also recently given a run-out to Angel Gomes, the club’s exciting 17-year-old attacking midfielder, a player tipped for stardom.
He is also keeping an eye over the progress of Axel Tuanzebe, who has been loaned out to Aston Villa. Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Andreas Pereira are two more United youth prospects currently on loan at Crystal Palace and Valencia respectively.
As for Rashford, he will be given the opportunities under Mourinho should he deserve him. The 20-year-old has fallen slightly behind Anthony Martial and Lingard in the pecking order purely because they have been in excellent form recently. Should Rashford’s form explode once more, like when he first broke into the team in February 2016. But there is no doubting that Mourinho views him as a key part of his future plans at the club.
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