Time Marcus considered his legacy...

MARCUS RASHFORD loves a jaunt or two and Erik ten Hag is not the only manager to know it.

Gareth Southgate asked Rashford to be part of his squad for Euro 2024 qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine towards the end of March last year but the striker cried off with a toe injury… and then hot-footed it to

New York for a sightseeing break.

The Big Apple clearly has healing powers – Rashford was fit for Manchester United’s fixture immediately after the international break.

Make no mistake, Southgate will have been watching Rashford’s recent activity with interest.

Rashford’s sporadic explosiveness on the pitch has meant Southgate has always been keen to have him as an option but this is a player who cannot take his international usefulness for granted.

Rashford has been to FOUR tournaments with England – the last three under Southgate – and has started only two of the matches. And both were, essentially, dead rubbers.

For a player with his natural talent and speed, Rashford (with Southgate, above) should be in the process of creating a legacy in an England shirt.

Instead, he is a fringe player, albeit one who can often make an impact and who has 59 caps to his name (33 as a sub).

To be fair, there are probably not many 26-year-old players who give too much thought to how footballing history is going to judge them.

And not when the ink is still wet on a five-year deal worth well over three-hundred grand a week.

But if there is one character who can arrest this slide down football’s pyramid of importance, it is, of course, Rashford himself.

For fantastic deeds away from the pitch, he has already ensured a legacy will be left.

But if Southgate keeps some sort of faith in him, Rashford should look across that England dressing room at Harry Kane and consider how his captain will be remembered.

As a great.

Rashford has the ability to be remembered similarly.

And he also has the time… but if he does not get his act together quickly, that time will soon be running out.