Marcus Rashford to Aston Villa in January dominated the headlines and the loan move started off well, although that wasn’t a high bar to clear given he wasn’t playing at all at Man Utd.
Still, Emery became a Rashford fan and predicted big things for him as he got used to Villa’s system, and Rashford’s partnership with Marco Asensio drove Villa to great heights.
Now, however, Emery has been told that selecting Rashford in the role that he sees him in is just not viable, with the manager facing the same problem Ruben Amorim did with him when he was in United colours.
Unai Emery’s Marcus Rashford problem
On the surface, everything still looks alright with Rashford at Villa but beneath it, some chinks are becoming visible in the armour.
It started with his appearance in the Champions League vs Paris Saint-Germain, where he was anonymous and was blasted by the French media afterwards.
Then came the game against Southampton, where it took him coming off for Villa to score three late goals and win the game.
Ahead of Villa’s return leg vs PSG, Alan Smith spoke on Sky and said that Emery sees Rashford as a striker but for reasons Amorim will be entirely too familiar with, can’t play him there over Ollie Watkins.
Smith said: “There’s a difference between when [Rashford] starts and when he comes on as a sub. [Emery] sees Rashford as a No. 9.
Watkins just gives you so much more in terms of his movement, closing down the defenders, and he works harder off the ball. He’s a bit more energetic, and can lead the press from the front better than Rashford.”
There’s that work-rate narrative again!
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Man Utd are likely to get Rashford back
The noise around Rashford had reached fever pitch in the immediate aftermath of the loan move because it was an easy stick to beat United with.
However, events since then, combined with Villa’s own precarious financial situation make it effectively a certainty that Villa will send Rashford back.
Unless he takes a huge pay cut, Villa are unlikely to be able to match his United salary figure, especially if they fail to qualify for UCL next season, which is likely.
Combine that with the player going off the boil and the narrative around him finally catching up to the reality, United should be prepared to get Rashford back.
The only solace is that they’ll get a player who’s played football and showed glimpses of his ability instead of one frozen out entirely by the manager.
At this point this is a case of addition by subtraction so United will hope that Villa buy him. If that doesn’t happen, another buyer will be searched for him.
