Jamie Carragher says Marcus Rashford ‘was never the saint he was made out to be’ as he credits his ‘inner circle’ for ‘PR around him’… and suggests Man United ‘won’t win anything big’ with under-fire star as their best player

Jamie Carragher believes Marcus Rashford was never ‘the saint he was made out to be’ after his ’12-hour tequila bender’ in Belfast last week and is not the player who can lead Manchester United back to the top flight of English football.

The England international called in sick on Friday and was subsequently fined £650,000 (two weeks’ wages) as details of his drunken antics emerged.

Rashford was ‘clearly on a mission to get drunk’, according to accounts of his night out in the Northern Irish city, and fell into bed fully clothed at 3am.

Although the United forward has since accepted responsibility for missing last week’s training, Carragher suggested the incident was not entirely surprising.

“I never believe he was the saint he was made out to be, and I think this inner circle did a great job with Marcus – there was a lot of PR around him,” he said on the Stick to Football podcast, sponsored by Sky bet.

Jamie Carragher believes the Man United striker was never ‘the saint he was made out to be’ in the aftermath of his ’12-hour tequila bender’ in Belfast

‘It portrayed him as if he was the guy who was about to save the world, when he’s just a young boy from Manchester with a few quid and a brilliant footballer.’

His decision to skip training is said to have taken place angered his teammates with one source saying: ‘They couldn’t believe he would do that given the situation the club is in.’

United boss Erik ten Hag stated this weekend that he would ‘like to address’ the issue and appeared determined to draw a line under the matter as his side played at Wolves on Thursday evening.

Asked on Wednesday whether Rashford’s behavior showed a lack of respect towards his manager, Ten Hag said: “I have nothing to do with that, but in football you need discipline and that is on the pitch, but also off the pitch.” field.

It is the second time this season he has upset Ten Hag by going to a nightclub – and it is thought the club have been concerned about him since the autumn of 2021.

Ten Hag criticized him for partying on his 26th birthday after losing to Manchester City in October.

The two incidents are in stark contrast to the image Rashford has developed in recent years, when he was awarded an MBE for his role in the campaign against child poverty.

Rashford’s partnership with food waste organization FareShare, which was first deployed on a mass scale during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, and using his platform to raise awareness of his campaign, helped raise more than £20 million raised to support children missing out on free school meals.

Rashford was spotted entering Thompsons Garage nightclub in Belfast earlier this week

Rashford spent 12 hours in Belfast on Thursday, having already been out the previous day

The United striker later lobbied the British government on the issue of child poverty and his campaign helped force a Conservative U-turn on the extension of free school meals over the summer holidays.

In September 2020, Rashford set up the Child Food Poverty Task Force, an organization made up of a number of UK charities and businesses, to ensure his campaign’s objectives were achieved.

His work also prompted the government to pledge more than £400 million in a winter grant program at the end of 2020 to provide support with food and bills.

In the same podcast, Roy Keane echoed Carragher’s position.

‘I don’t think he (Marcus Rashford) has ever been that perfect. The things he did off the field that he gets a lot of credit for,” he said.

“I never thought he had a halo over his head, but I don’t for a minute think he’s some nasty guy either.

“I think he definitely made some mistakes that were very close together. “The profile of Manchester United, the fact that United are struggling, he’s an easy target – his decision-making is clearly not very good at the moment.”

Rashford’s struggles off the pitch mirror his poor form on the pitch.

Fresh from scoring a career-best 30 goals last season, he signed a new five-year contract worth £325,000-a-week in July, but he is still nowhere near the heights he reached last season.

Rashford has scored just four goals in 26 games in all competitions this season, half of which came in the last two Premier League games.

By comparison, last season he became the first United player since Robin Van Persie in 2012/2013 to score at least 30 goals in a single season.

To put his struggles into context, Rashford had already scored 18 goals at the same stage of the season a year ago.

And Carragher suggested the decline in performances indicated the England international was not quite fit to be the talismanic figure United need to win silverware on a regular basis.

‘I’ve always said this: if Rashford is Manchester United’s best player, which I would probably say, I don’t think Manchester United can win anything big.

“That’s not a criticism of him, I just think they probably need someone a level higher. He’s almost that second or third man in the front three.

‘There is so much pressure and criticism on him to be the man who scores the goals. I don’t think he’s good enough to be the Wayne Rooney or the Andy Cole or Dwight Yorke, but there’s no one else.”