MARCUS RASHFORD could mark his return to Manchester United in an awkward showdown against old foe Ruben Amorim.
The 28-year-old winger is set to report back for pre-season at the end of the week, alongside England teammate Kobbie Mainoo and World Cup runner-up Lisandro Martinez.
Marcus Rashford is due back at Carrington shortly for United’s preseason ending Credit: Getty
Rashford’s first game could be against Ruben Amorim’s AC Milan side in Wroclaw on August 15 Credit: Getty
While United remain tight-lipped about Rashford’s exact timetable, his return likely aligns with the rest of the club’s World Cup contingent.
A three-week break following his final tournament match places him in the Republic of Ireland for next week’s training camp in Maynooth.
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Should that happen, his first game could be against AC Milan, now managed by ex-United manager Amorim, in Wroclaw on August 15.
It is unlikely that Carrick will play Rashford against Leeds at Croke Park next Wednesday with just a couple of days’ training behind him.
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Rashford will almost certainly not be ‘bombed out’ again like he was under Amorim last summer.
Carrick is a calm character who is more pacifying than Amorim, having been a teammate of Rashford’s in 2016, coached him for years and managed him briefly for three interim games in 2021.
When Rashford’s season-long loan was unveiled by Barcelona last July, no-one expected to see Rashford back in a United shirt and Matheus Cunha swiped his No10 jersey in July last year.
Rashford’s Old Trafford future was dead and buried when Amorim was in charge after his final appearance against Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League on December 12.
Ruben Amorim and Marcus Rashford fell out in December 2024 Credit: Getty
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Amorim had only been at United for a month when he became unhappy with the forward’s training standards, before dropping him and Alejandro Garnacho for the derby on December 15, which United won 2-1.
Amorim then famously said he would rather play his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital than Rashford in January last year, days before the player joined Aston Villa on a six-month loan.
It’s just over a year to the day that Rashford scored his first goal for Barcelona on loan in a pre-season win over Daegu in South Korea.
As it stands, the feeling at United and within Rashford’s camp is that he is likely to return and play for his boyhood club this season.
His £325,000-a-week salary, agreed in 2023, is difficult to budge, which played a role in Barcelona failing to trigger the £26m option to buy clause.
Rashford is United’s highest earner again and has turned away offers because he is unwilling to take a pay cut.
Though his form dipped during his final two seasons at United, Carrick could revitalise Rashford just as he did Mainoo.
Like Mainoo, Rashford’s primary issue was with Amorim, while friction with other club figures may linger.
But there are no guarantees that Rashford will be a United player when the window closes next month, but United are aware that any suitable replacement would cost a bomb.
Barca paid the entirety of his wages during the season on loan, but were only prepared to offer half the £26m price tag to make the move permanent.
United rejected any notion of a loan and Barca signed England pal Anthony Gordon for £70m from Newcastle and German winger Karim Adeyemi from Borussia Dortmund.
Once the deadline for Barca to sign Rashford expired on June 15, United disclosed that they would listen to offers of £40m from other clubs – with the exception of City and Liverpool – until that option ran out in mid-July.
He scored 11 goals and made 14 assists as Barca won the La Liga title, the Spanish Super Cup and reached the Champions League quarter-finals.
United have been in the market for a left-sided attacker and Rashford has the potential to be one of the best in the Prem – if his form can remain consistent.
