The rise of Rashford

He’s in England’s provisional 26-man squad for Euro 2016 and preparing for an FA Cup final at Wembley, but how good is Marcus Rashford? Adam Bate spoke to his former coaches at Fletcher Moss Rangers, Manchester United and England to find out…

This is a climate in which Chelsea teenagers can seek £50,000 per week contracts before their first-team debut; where youngsters are trailed as ‘wonderkids’ while YouTube remains their only witness. And yet, even against that backdrop, the emergence of Marcus Rashford at Manchester United retains its capacity to surprise.

Few had heard of the 18-year-old forward until Anthony Martial went down with an injury during the warm-up for the second leg of United’s Europa League last-16 tie with FC Midtyjlland at Old Trafford in late February. Rashford was thrust into the limelight and promptly scored two goals as United turned the tie around.

“He seems to have come from nowhere,” former United forward Teddy Sheringham told Sky Sports. By the weekend, he’d added another brace in a 3-2 win over Arsenal with veteran talent spotter Arsene Wenger describing Rashford as a “player who was surprising for me talent-wise”. That theme of surprise has been a recurring one ever since.

Almost three months on and Rashford has eight senior goals to his name, an FA Cup final to look forward to and a place in Roy Hodgson’s provisional 26-man England squad for Euro 2016. But even after this announcement, Under-21 boss Gareth Southgate still felt moved to describe Rashford’s ascent to the top as “very random”.

However, an extraordinary journey should not be mistaken for a fluke. When Louis van Gaal named Rashford among his substitutes for a Premier League game against Watford in December of last year, he described the player as a “fantastic talent” and behind the scenes there has long been an awareness of his vast potential.

Steve Round was the assistant manager to David Moyes during United’s 2013/14 season and recalls the debrief about the club’s most promising young talents. “I remember talking to one of the academy coaches and asking who they felt, over the course of the next five years, could come through and press for the first team,” Round tells Sky Sports.

“They mentioned Jesse Lingard and Adnan Januzaj strongly. And there was talk of a young centre forward called Rashford who they felt had the potential to maybe go on and be very good – but he was a bit raw and wasn’t quite ready. They liked the look of him because he had speed, got goals and was a local guy who had a hunger for the club.”

Hunger. That’s something that registers with Dave Horrocks. He’s the development officer at Fletcher Moss Rangers, the club at which Rashford played for as a boy before embarking upon his United adventure. Horrocks admits to crying when Rashford scored those debut goals and takes particular pride in the young man’s attitude.

“The kids who come to us have a bit more about them and are a bit hungrier to want to win,” Horrocks tells Sky Sports. “It reflects well on his mother. His father wasn’t around but it reflects well on his stable family life, especially coming from the area he started at. He was living in the middle of Withington when he was first knocking about as a five-year-old.

“He was taken places, he wasn’t sent. He wasn’t given a couple of quid in his hand and packed off. Whether it was his brothers or his mother, they spent time with him and that’s got to be key for a child’s development. Don’t stick them out into the garden with a ball – play with them.”

Rashford was nurtured at home and nurtured at his club. But in a year of fairy-tales, maybe this particular Cinderella story was not as unlikely as the immediate headlines might have made out. For instance, Rashford was selected in the Victory Shield squad for England’s Under-16s while aged just 14. He was well known to both club and country.

In fact, he was protected. With United keen to keep his development under the radar, his international involvement was restricted. Kenny Swain was England’s Under-16 coach at the time and stresses that United were well aware of Rashford’s special talent.

“I’ve got news for you,” Swain tells Sky Sports. “We …

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