Manchester United hero Wayne Rooney has told Red Devils favourite Marcus Rashford to do ‘a lot of soul-searching’ as his poor form continues to suffer at Old Trafford.
Rashford burst onto the scene back in 2016 with some eye-catching performances including four goals in his first two games under Louis van Gaal.
Since then, he has become a star player and a dependable, experienced member of the first team despite United’s failure to win trophies.
But last season saw him score just five goals in all competitions as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked and Ralf Rangnick failed to steady the ship – whilst that form has so far continued under Erik ten Hag.
And Rooney, who played alongside Rashford for two seasons at United, has claimed the Wythenshawe-born speedster needs to go ‘soul-searching’ to get back to his best.
“As for Marcus, I think he needs to do a lot of soul-searching and figure out what he wants, for his own good, before anything else,” Rooney told The Sunday Times.
“Because watching him is a real concern: he looks like he wants to be anywhere but on a football pitch. I haven’t seen him smile on the field for a long time. His performances have dipped — he hasn’t been selected by England for more than a year.
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“I’m coming from a place of wanting the best for him. He’s a lovely kid and a local lad who came through the ranks at United, who everyone wants to see doing well. But you look at the difference between Marcus now and when he first came into the team: the passion he showed, the smile on his face when he scored. It’s night and day.
“He needs to look at himself and Ten Hag and the coaches need to figure out what’s going on, sit him down and have really honest conversations, because you can’t just keep rolling him out when clearly something’s not right.
“There has been speculation about a move to Paris Saint-Germain, and it could be that he is another, like Cristiano [Ronaldo], who wants a change of scene.”
Rashford’s links to PSG could offer him a new lease of life; but as a United youngster and boyhood fan, he may well come to regret leaving the team he supports in their worst rut.