Marcus Rashford is the most in-form player in the world right now, with eight goals and two assists in his last seven games.
His form has been central to Manchester United’s winning run, with his late strike clinching a derby victory at home to City on Saturday.
The England international is racking up the plaudits, with 16 goals total for the season already, and former Red Devils striker Dwight Yorke has been singing his praises.
Yorke also hit out at former managers for failing to get more out of Rashford, with Erik ten Hag working wonders so far.
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Yorke reacts to Rashford form
Dwight Yorke knows a thing or two about scoring goals for Manchester United. And he has also seen Rashford up close during training sessions, when he spent time at Carrington doing his coaching badges.
He told The Mirror it was obvious that Rashford was United’s key player, and said that former coaches had let him down.
Yorke said: “I knew all along that he was the best player at United. I watched him close up on my course at the pro-license. I went there and saw a kind of talent I hadn’t seen for some time.
Yes, he went through a period of time that was difficult for him and people started writing him off, but you listen to my interviews; I said he was easily the best but for some reason previous managers couldn’t get the best out of him. I think that was such a waste of time.
“I’m really happy that he’s getting the rewards now, but is it a surprise to me? No. Is it a surprise to other people? Maybe, yeah. But I know football too well and I know when I see someone close up what a special player he is.”
It might be a bit harsh to include Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in with Jose Mourinho and Ralf Rangnick, as managers who ‘wasted’ Rashford’s time.
Rashford did score regularly under Solskjaer, 55 goals in 135 games. Under Mourinho he netted 28 times in 125 games, and just two in 22 under Rangnick.
But there was a case that under Solskjaer, Rashford was played to the limit, through injuries, to his detriment, that resulted in him going to Euro 2020 half-fit, requiring an operation immediately afterwards, setting him back.
Last season was a real mess, and Rashford’s renaissance this current campaign has been better than anybody dared imagine. He genuinely looks better than ever, with 16 strikes in 26 games under Ten Hag, just 12 fewer than he managed under Mourinho, in 99 fewer appearances.
Is Rashford’s goal-per-game form of the last month sustainable? Certainly not, but he is likely to surpass his career best tally of 2020/21 when he struck 22 times.
With Cristiano Ronaldo gone too, Rashford has stepped out of his shadow, and stepped up, embracing his role as one of the team’s leaders. He is becoming the player everybody hoped he would become.
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