ROY KEANE could not have put it better than anyone at Manchester United.
“He was part of the problem with the environment,” Keane said in response to Marcus Rashford complaining about the “inconsistent environment” he was stuck in.
A glance at Rashford’s seasonal goal tallies for United after his pivotal penalty miss in the European Championship final in 2021 suggest he was worse than inconsistent: Five goals, 30 goals, eight goals, seven goals.
You do not have to be Hercule Poirot to work out which campaign ended with a salary hike to £325,000 per week for Rashford.
United fans were harder on Rashford at the start of the 2023-24 season as they expected him to back up his pay rise. He never did.
Instead, friction developed between the player and supporters. Fans saw through Rashford, particularly as his brother Dwaine had met Paris Saint-Germain officials to use as a bargaining chip during negotiations with United.
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Man Utd matchgoers aired their dismay at Rashford’s infamous body language and he was disciplined by then-manager Erik ten Hag on at least two occasions.
The “inconsistent environment” did not drive Rashford to a birthday party he hosted in Manchester city centre hours after he was sarcastically cheered off by his own fans in a 3-0 derby defeat to Manchester City at Old Trafford.
Nor did the environment account for his Belfast bender in late January 2024, days before United’s season resumed in the FA Cup at Newport County.
United staff trod on eggshells around Rashford. Now he is gone, some freely admit his career-best form in 2022-23 was owed to the incentive of a contract he was playing for.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta revealed that Rashford had candidly told him he expected to spend the entirety of his career at United. The sliding doors moment came in 2023, around the same time Rashford signed a five-year contract.
By the time Rashford had scrawled his signature on those papers, United had consciously decided not to go for Harry Kane.
Newcastle fans have never tired of reminding United about the time they missed out on Alan Shearer but Kane was a far greater significant miss.
Then-Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy had been given an ultimatum to sell Kane that year and not allow him to run down his contract. United had to test the waters but never caused a ripple.
Ten Hag barely concealed his frustration. When he arranged public and private sit-downs with influential commentators on United, he emphasised how much he regretted the fact that the club did not go for Kane.
The Dutchman had put a convincing spin on Rasmus Hojlund, the unproven striker United did sign, in discussions with confidants yet Kane plundered more club goals in his first season for Bayern Munich than the Denmark international had in his career.
Had Rashford flanked Kane, it is difficult to imagine him or United spiralling as spectacularly as they have over the last two years.
Kane came close
United have become a funeral home for umpteen footballers’ careers but Kane – scorer of 213 Premier League goals – was as close to a sure thing as they could have got.
And Kane would have jumped at the chance to move north, something he angled for when Spurs blocked his intended move to Man City in 2021.
With Kane out of the picture and Hojlund injured at the start of his United career, Rashford had to start the campaign up front having displayed world-class form as a left winger the previous term.
Even though it only lasted for the first two games of the 2023-24 season, the die had been cast and Rashford resented Ten Hag’s tweak.
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Kane and Rashford have only directly collaborated for three England goals in ten years, a derisory haul that highlights Rashford’s inconsistencies. He has started in 29 of his 66 international appearances. Captain Kane has started in 96 out of 110 games.
But signing Kane would have signalled a statement of intent from United, third-place finishers in 2022-23, and possibly kept Rashford in check.
Instead he checked out.
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