“I don’t know if he is going to leave or not, but he needs to play.”
Thierry Henry offered Marcus Rashford some career advice on Monday Night Football, and it was pretty simple – Rashford needs to be playing first-team football. The Manchester United forward has made 37 appearances in all competitions so far this season, and has scored 10 goals. He only needs one more goal to match last season’s total, and could easily surpass the 52 appearances he made during that campaign before the end of the season.
He’s also only 20, and few footballers have made so many appearances for United at such a young age. However, Rashford’s playing time has been limited since the turn of the year. His last start in the Premier League was in the goalless draw with Southampton on December 30, and he has been consigned to FA Cup starts and appearances from the bench since then.
The arrival of Alexis Sanchez has increased competition for places in United’s front four, and Rashford is currently the one missing out. That could change over the coming weeks and months, and Jose Mourinho will need the England forward for European and FA Cup ties.
However, on Monday Night Football, Henry suggested that Rashford may need to look at his options if his situation doesn’t change before the end of the season, and that he must be playing regular football at this stage of his career.
“One of the most important things for me is that you have to play,” Henry said on Sky Sports.
“You cannot be on the bench and missing games, missing learning about the game and stopping that momentum, and an example is Rashford. Michael Owen had the opportunity to back up what he did the year before because he played, and he played, and he played, and he played. And I can give you more examples. But Rashford at times could not capitalise on what he did from that year [after his debut], because sometimes he is playing on the right, or on the left.”
Host David Jones then asked Henry if Rashford should leave United in the summer. “‘Leave’ is a strong word,” Henry replied.
“What I am saying to him is, you need to play. It can be at Manchester United. I’m not saying he can’t play at Manchester United, but he still has not had that run of games to carry on the momentum that he has. Especially at a young age, you play on that at times. I don’t know if he is going to leave or not, but he needs to play.”
You can watch Henry speak about Rashford here:
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