Marcus Rashford enrolled MU's youth academy at 7 years old. He quickly asserted his ability, before being chosen by fate …
From early, Rashford's talent made the coaches at MU overwhelmed. “Marcus's talent is very clear. There are players who have developed late, but often if anyone is the best, they are good at the age of 8. Marcus has a very smooth, elegant movement. He has self -motivation and always curious to learn,” Paul McGuinness – former youth coach of MU – confided.
However, in the early years at the Academy, Rashford often had to leave training because the family could not pick him up because his mother and brothers were busy working. Later, MU's youth team coaches such as Dave Bushell, Eamon Mulvey or Tony Whelan helped find a shuttle Rashford to the training ground – a caring enough to see how promising the striker born in 1997.
“Even when the coaches come to practice, he may be on the roof of the roof or seek to control the ball, or kick the ball into the trash,” McGuinness added. At the age of 11, Rashford became the youngest player who was selected for the Manchester United Schoolboy Scholars – which was usually only for players aged 12 and over.
Rashford is accelerated in the development and starting to play the “Cage Football” style (football in the cage) with seniors like Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard or Ravel Morrison. This has helped Rashford improve the technique and ability to handle in a narrow space when confronting people to 4 years old.
In 2012, Rashford participated in MU's U15 team to win the runner -up at the 23rd Marveld tournament. In 2014, The Guardian called him the brightest talent of Manchester United in the series “Next Generation 2014”, praising Rashford's “comprehensive football” style.
At the age of 16, Rashford first practiced with the first team MU under coach David Moyes in the 2013/14 season. However, the path to becoming a Premier League player is not simple.
“Marcus has gone through a long way,” McGuinness said. “When he was 14-15 years old, he developed physically too fast, long legs made the coordination loss. That made Marcus frustrated, the mood was erratic because he could not do the same. In terms of physical strength, intensity at each higher level increased. One of the first matches in the U18 team, Marcus was exhausted in the first half.
If we have to find the fateful milestone of Rashford, we must start from the match against Shrewsbury in the framework of the 5th round of FA Cup on February 22, 2016. Rashford was 18 years old and did not participate in MU's 3-0 victory. He had just had a rare main kick with the U21 team confronting Man City two days earlier. But what happened at the GreeHous Meadow yard that day was like “heaven”.
Will Keane was an unfortunate person who was injured, forced to leave the field after only 11 minutes to replace him. Without that injury, Rashford would probably not have the name on the bench in the second leg of the Europa League against Midtjyland a few days later.
There will also be no “emergency calls” when Anthony Martial was injured at the boot, just before the ball rolled, making coach Louis van Gaal lack a plan to replace people. And of course, there will be no double goals at the first match of MU – starting the extraordinary journey to bring Rashford to the light.
God, that can only be God …
This is an excerpt from the article “Marcus Rashford: From 'Golden Boy' at Old Trafford to the wandering at the Camp Nou”. Please read the full article here.
