Marcus Rashford would not start for Liverpool or Arsenal with the stuttering Manchester United forward told that his options will be limited in the Premier League if he leaves Old Trafford.
There is no room for passengers on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool freight train. Or, indeed, an Arsenal side sharing the goals around in the absence of an elite centre-forward, Mikel Arteta’s charges once again sacrificing blood, sweat and – ok maybe not tears – as they ripped through Newcastle United on Saturday night.
On current form, where would Marcus Rashford fit in at either club, should the perennially under-fire forward be sacrificed by a new Manchester United ownership group expected to keep few prisoners and pull even fewer punches?
Marcus Rashford struggling at Manchester United
Well, according to former Arsenal ace Perry Groves, he wouldn’t fit.
Not at Arsenal, nor at Liverpool, and arguably not even a Tottenham Hotspur team who – although their frontline lacks the sheer quality of Rashford – are hardly lacking when it comes to work rate and high-pressing.
“Does he get in Arsenal’s team? No. Mikel Arteta doesn’t take him because he doesn’t work hard enough off the ball,” Groves, a two-time First Division champion with The Gunners in the 1980s, tells talkSPORT (28 February, 2pm).
“Marcus Rashford is lazy. Does he get in Liverpool’s team? 100 per cent no. Even Spurs, the way that Spurs play, on the front foot closing down… And you have got his wages (to consider).
“I think, if I was a manager, I would either try and get rid of Marcus Rashford, or sit him down and say; ‘It’s a clean slate but you have got to work’.
“’Because, if you don’t, you’re a liability’.”
Could England ace replace Kylian Mbappe at PSG?
Despite what has undoubtedly been a very underwhelming season – Rashford had 30 goals last term but only five this – there is one club in European football who may have both the means and the desire to test Manchester United’s reported £120 million resolve.
Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has never made any attempt to hide his admiration for a forward who has twice scored winners at the Parc des Princes.
And, regardless of how highly you rate him, there are not many players in the game who share quite so many similarities – from a stylistic perspective anyway – with the departing Kylian Mbappe.
Another of those, AC Milan talisman Rafael Leao, is on PSG’s radar, HITC Football has been told. We can also confirm that the aforementioned Arsenal are among the many clubs sending scouts to watch Fiorentina right-back Michael Kayode.
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