United at risk of failing to unlock Rashford’s potential
LEGEND has Brian Kidd standing next to Alex Ferguson, the day they were watching a 15-year-old Ryan Giggs. ‘If we can’t make this one a player,’ Kidd murmured, ‘we should pack it in.’ Much the same might have been said about Marcus Rashford once. Yet, somehow, Manchester United are managing it. Rashford is a player, sure. Almost 300 games for Manchester United, almost 100 goals; 46 appearances for England, an MBE. But he’s not Giggs. He’s not at football’s pinnacle. Rashford doesn’t even have an established place in Manchester United’s team. Ralf Rangnick has coached seven games so far and Rashford has occupied three positions. He has made just 15 appearances in all competitions this season and scored three goals. There is one manager in Manchester who would know what to do with him but, sadly, he is at the wrong club. Rashford is the United player Pep Guardiola most admires, yet one can never imagine him in a blue shirt. Might his trajectory have been different, though, had United possessed a more coherent vision? And might Kidd’s worst fears have been realised had Giggs had the misfortune to arrive at Old Trafford in an era of underachieving turmoil?