Marcus Rashford must change if he is to succeed away from Man United, writes IAN LADYMAN… he’s not the footballer he once was and it hasn’t taken Ruben Amorim long to work it out

The big intangible about Marcus Rashford and his stated desire to leave Manchester United is exactly how he thinks it will be elsewhere.

After all, the requirements for professional football are the same everywhere. The demand to run and chase, commit and belong, work hard and be generous and selfless will follow Rashford wherever he goes.

Spain, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, America. Football is football. From a distance it may look and feel different, with Rashford in isolation reflecting on how he cannot be considered good enough or committed enough for just about the worst United team in recent memory. But the truth is that it isn’t. It’s exactly the same.

So now that he’s broken cover, the truth will get to Rashford soon enough. He chose an interesting way to tell journalist Henry Winter about his desire to leave his boyhood club. Back at his old primary school handing out Christmas presents to young children, Rashford chose the place where one journey began to bring news of another that was about to end. Why he did it that way, only he will know and possibly care.

The truth is that Rashford’s PR has long been as clumsy as his football, but it is the football that has now led him to this point.

It certainly didn’t take new United manager Ruben Amorim long to work this all out. Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag knew it. A large part of the regular United fan base has also known about it for a long time. Rashford is no longer the footballer he once was. He is no longer the teammate he once was. He no longer has the focus he once had.

The striker, who has played for United since he was seven, made the impressive admission during a visit to his old primary school, where he handed out 420 presents to children.

It didn’t take Ruben Amorim long to discover that Rashford is no longer the player he once was

And if he wants to turn his career around at the age of 27 and reach the heights he once reached – only at a new club – then all that will have to change. Because this is not an issue with a particular manager, teammate or environment. For example, this is not comparable to the feud with Ten Hag that led to Jadon Sancho leaving the club last season.

No, this is a train that has been coming down the track for a while. This is about a change within Rashford that has been subtle and gradual, but has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

The shortcomings that Ten Hag saw have now been recognized by two England managers – Gareth Southgate and Lee Carsley – and a new United manager. Relapse – no matter how small – in effort, attitude, sharpness and training level. These are the fundamental tools of any footballer’s trade and without them you are nothing.

This is Rashford 2024. As a person he may not have changed. Who can really know? But as an athlete he has that and that is what will most likely see him leave Old Trafford next month, perhaps initially on loan.

His lawyers will tell us that someone else will get lucky with him. That United’s loss will be someone else’s gain. That has yet to be proven.

The truth is that Rashford now has everything to prove. Past performance counts for nothing. It is not at all a given that he will find himself in a new environment and return to the levels he once reached.

Not all football players are meant to last the distance. Some burn brightly from a young age and then fade away. Rashford could well be one of them. It happens sometimes and if it happens here, then one day we will look back and see him as he was years before: a young striker with a smile on your face who set his own football club on fire and then took on the task to fight. and win much bigger battles off the field.

The shortcomings noted by Ten Hag have been recognized by two English bosses and Amorim

Rashford has had success at Man United, but the change has become difficult to ignore

Rashford has everything to prove, with no guarantee he can return to his previous best

Nearly nine years on from that remarkable debut as a teenager in the Europa League against Midtjylland, Rashford undoubtedly needs a break from United as much as they need his.

Rashford told Winter at Button Lane Primary School that he will always be a United fan at heart and will make sure he doesn’t get into trouble when he goes on the road.

But a small but relevant detail at the start of another big week for Amorim and United is that, while Rashford’s words went around the world and back again just after tea time last night, he had not thought about introducing anyone to the club tell him he was about to say them.