Rashford’s back problems so bad he struggled to sit down
Striker was in pain days before suffering injury United accused of failing to protect their forward
Marcus Rashford’s back was giving him such pain in the days leading up to his fateful appearance against Wolverhampton Wanderers last Wednesday that he was struggling just to sit down for an interview, it has emerged.
The Manchester United and England striker had filmed an interview with Ryan Giggs at Hotel Football next to Old Trafford the previous weekend, and the discomfort in his back was so acute that he had to stand for long periods of it.
Despite concerns about his existing back problems, Rashford was then brought on as a second-half substitute in the FA Cup thirdround replay at home to Wolves a few days later and suffered a double stress fracture following a collision with Matt Doherty. It will keep him out for up to three months, and possibly longer.
With Harry Kane already sidelined until April, Rashford’s injury raises more fears for Gareth Southgate, the England manager, ahead of Euro 2020 this summer.
Following his side’s 2-0 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer denied that Rashford had gone into the Wolves match with a single stress fracture.
But United were accused yesterday of failing to give Rashford adequate protection as the striker was warned by two former players who have suffered stress fractures of the back not to rush his return and that he could be left with a weak spot for the rest of his career.
“I had a similar injury, a stress fracture in my lower back. I was out with that for four months,” Robin van Persie, the former United and Arsenal striker, said. “You have to just rest and let it heal.”
Ian Wright, the former Arsenal striker, accused Solskjaer of putting himself above Rashford’s health. “Solskjaer’s under intense pressure to get United back where they were and he’s thought about himself before he thought about the player. Solskjaer has put himself above Marcus Rashford’s health,” Wright told Radio 5 Live.
“Now, one of their most important players is out and that has to come to the manager’s door. With the problems he is having with his back, you can’t mess around with that and Solskjaer has to take some blame in still playing him.”
Solskjaer had admitted after the Norwich City game on Jan 11 that Rashford was playing with problems that would require management and, in the wake of the Wolves match, conceded the player had been hampered by existing back problems.
Rashford’s back complaints go back a few years and he has been using a fracture healing machine called a Melmak device – at home and before games – this season to try to ease the acute pain.
No player in the Premier League has played more games than Rashford since his debut in February 2016 and his workload last month – eight games in 28 days – is believed to have taken a particular toll.
He has also been playing with some floating bone in an ankle for the past 11 months. Rashford will now undergo a small operation to remove it and his absence has left Solskjaer looking at emergency short-term signings.
Jamie O’hara, the former Tottenham midfielder, developed a single stress fracture during a loan spell with Portsmouth. It became a double stress fracture because he kept playing and required surgery in 2010. In total, he was out for nine months. He believes United should have taken better care of Rashford.
“I can’t believe that the medical team at United have allowed him to carry on playing … they must have known he had a stress fracture,” O’hara told Talksport.
Meanwhile, Gary Neville has called for the Glazer family, United’s owners, to sack vice-chairman Ed Woodward. United have spent around £850 million on players since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and have the Premier League’s highest wage bill, but are 30 points adrift of leaders Liverpool in fifth.
“If you don’t lose your job for essentially overseeing that investment, that wage bill, and putting that team out on the pitch, then something is really wrong,” he told the Gary Neville Podcast.