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Chief football news reporter

Marcus Rashford is one of the most well-known players in the Premier League.

He has made 426 appearances for Manchester United and is 12th on the club’s all-time scoring list with 138 goals.

The 27-year-old has won both the FA Cup and EFL Cup twice. He has also won the Europa League. He has 60 England caps.

Off the pitch, he was awarded an MBE in 2021 for his work around child poverty.

But now his career is under a cloud amid a belief that his days at United are numbered after he was dropped for the Manchester derby.

On 18 July 2023 United confirmed Rashford had signed a new contract to 30 June 2028. It marked the end of a saga as Rashford’s previous deal was due to expire in 12 months and he had already been linked with a number of major European clubs.

The move made sense. Rashford had just scored a career-best 30 domestic goals during the 2022-23 season and was still only 25.

After three games without a goal, he scored the opener in what turned out to be a 3-1 defeat at Arsenal on 3 September.

He wasn’t to score for another 13 games as United’s slide under Erik ten Hag began.

In January Rashford was axed for an FA Cup trip to Newport County after missing training through illness after spending longer than planned on what had initially been an authorised trip to Belfast, getting pictured entering a nightclub where he drank tequila.

Although Rashford scored the first goal of Ruben Amorim’s reign after only 81 seconds at Ipswich on 24 November, the new United head coach admitted central striker was not the 27-year-old’s best position. Rashford started three and was a substitute for three of Amorim’s first six games in charge, though.

But, crucially, he was on the bench for the midweek Premier League trip to Arsenal and the home game that followed against Nottingham Forest on 7 December. He started in the Europa League against Vitoria Plzen on 12 December but was replaced after 56 minutes with United 1-0 down. They went on to win 2-1.

He was then dropped along with Alejandro Garnacho for the Manchester derby. After the game, Amorim explained why: “The performance in training, the way you eat, the way you push your team-mates – everything is important at the beginning of something. When people in your club are losing their jobs, we have to put the standards really high.”

At some point, every manager has to make big calls. Like it or not, the outcome of them ends up being how they are defined.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s time at United is littered with major decisions – from axing Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside but keeping Bryan Robson right at the start of his reign, to letting Paul Pogba leave at the end.

Amorim knew exactly what the fallout would be from his decision to leave Rashford out.

If United had lost at Manchester City, questions would have been asked about the wisdom of having only Joshua Zirkzee on the bench as an attacking player. But they didn’t. Thanks to Amad Diallo, they won.

“Today we proved we can leave anyone out and win,” said Amorim afterwards. That is a big stick to beat his players with.

Rashford is a realist. He will know the writing is on the wall for him. It is fair to say for the past 18 months – or for all but the 2022-23 season since November 2021 given he scored only twice in his last 28 appearances of the campaign in which Ralf Rangnick ended in charge – he has been way below the standards he is capable of.

He has been repeatedly criticised for his work ethic – and by some for his off-field antics, which included a trip to the United States during the November international break.

It is argued Rashford is being unfairly singled out. But that side of his life will not change. He has to deliver – and too often, he hasn’t.

Rashford is one of United’s highest earners, with a basic wage in excess of £300,000 a week. Only a small number of clubs can afford that salary and, for a variety of reasons, some of them are not in the market.

In Spain, Barcelona’s financial issues are well known. Real Madrid are already struggling to find the right attacking combination from Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham.

Atletico paid huge money to Manchester City for Julian Alvarez just before the summer transfer deadline.

Of England’s top clubs, Manchester City and Liverpool seem a bit of a stretch, even with City in such poor form. Arsenal need a central striker – and Rashford doesn’t like playing there. Chelsea appear to have spent enough. Tottenham are inconsistent but they are hardly likely to drop skipper Son Heung-min, who plays on the left.

Paris St-Germain have frequently been mentioned as a possible destination on a number of occasions down the years, but the French giants have always distanced themselves from such talk.

United have previously been linked with Randal Kolo Muani. However, even a swap deal is questionable given Rasmus Hojlund seems to be impressing as Amorim’s first choice in the lead attacking role.

The Saudi Pro League could make a huge statement by signing such an instantly recognisable figure from the Premier League aged only 27. However, the feeling is Rashford is not sold on that as a plan.

A loan involving some kind of wage contribution seems possible. But United have repeatedly spoken of their tight profit and sustainability rules (PSR) situation, as well as their commitment to abide by the rules, so paying to let a high earner play for someone else would be counter-productive.

Anyone old enough to remember the Wayne Rooney saga from October 2010, when he slapped in a transfer request, was publicly lambasted by Ferguson and then signed a new contract, all within less than a week, will know nothing is impossible at United.

There are three main points.

Firstly, can Rashford meet Amorim’s demands? That, really, should be the easy bit – certainly the effort should be a non-negotiable. I am talking about the effort Amorim is demanding, not what social media observers think.

Secondly, can he fit the system? This is a bit more tricky. Rashford likes to play wide and cut in. But there is no slot for that in Amorim’s system.

The coach has already said Rashford is not ideally suited to an orthodox number nine role, which leaves either wing back (unlikely) or inside forward.

The latter would require a lot of work, which United do not have with their current schedule. But if Hojlund is holding the ball up, using Rashford’s pace to run beyond is a viable alternative.

If Amorim wants his team to dominate possession, it is less valuable, especially if they are moving into a higher area of the pitch on a more consistent basis.

The third option is accepting being used as an impact substitute. As Rashford approaches the peak point of his career, going down that route is difficult to see happening.

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