Manchester United finished third in the Premier League, so it goes without saying they have a good squad, but one player is ‘frightening’.
That’s according to Ollie Watkins, who almost joined Man Utd last summer before the club pivoted towards Benjamin Sesko instead.
The usual suspects when it comes to talking about quality players in the Man Utd squad are Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, or Matheus Cunha, to name three.
However, Watkins thinks another player is truly ‘frightening’, who hasn’t even been a big part of United for the last two seasons.
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Ollie Watkins raves about Marcus Rashford
Watkins has played with multiple Man Utd players on England duty, but Marcus Rashford is someone he’s played with at club level too.
The Man Utd academy man spent time on loan at Aston Villa in the second half of last season, eventually impressing enough for Barcelona to take a punt on him.
He formed a good relationship with Watkins during those six months, and the respect is mutual, as the striker has described Rashford’s ability as “frightening”.
He said [via Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel]: “You read things and stuff like that, but I knew Marcus’s talent, and I knew that the manager would get the best out of him, and to be fair, he did, and like he was unbelievable, but his ability is, yeah, it’s frightening.”
Anyone who has seen Rashford can believe Watkins’ words, as Rashford has the ability to do the audacious and make it look extremely easy.
However, there is a reason why, despite that ability, he has become Barcelona’s backup to the backup, and got rejected by Bayern Munich.
Rashford hasn’t matched ability with consistency
Watkins’ words actually perfectly capture the Rashford conundrum, where the footballing world is convinced that he’s a mercurial talent, but he just can’t do it consistently.
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It’s why his numbers jump off the page in terms of pure raw stats, but people remain doubtful over his overall impact on the team.
When he’s good, there aren’t many better than him in world football, but when he’s bad, he can look like he’s completely switched off and would rather be anywhere else except the football pitch.
That consistency makes the difference between having a ‘frightening’ ability and being a ‘frightening’ player.
If Rashford was the latter, he’d still be thriving at Man Utd. Or, at the very least, not having trouble finding a club that values him.
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