Looking to break Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring record, Marcus Rashford reveals Manchester United legend has backed him to pursue his goal: ‘I feel like I can score 35 or 40 goals this season’

Marcus Rashford has revealed he has set his sights on breaking Wayne Rooney’s all-time goalscoring record at Manchester United after committing his future to the club.

Rashford has scored 123 goals in 359 games since coming through the Man United academy to establish himself as one of the stars of the team.

Rooney’s record of 253 goals seems within reach after he penned a new five-year deal worth £300,000 a week.

Rashford, in conversation with the overlap in association with Sky betrevealed to Gary Neville that Rooney has been encouraging him to reach his club record total.

“Hopefully I will (break Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring record at United),” said Rashford.

“You never know what’s going to happen, but for me it’s about scoring goals and providing assists. There is a chance it could happen.

“I talked to Wazza about it – he wants me to do it.

“He said it would be good for me to do it as I grew up with the club.

“Hopefully I’ll get a chance to try and make it happen.”

Rashford signed his new contract after his best goalscoring season for the club, scoring 30 goals in 56 appearances in the 2022-23 season.

The 25-year-old became the first United player since Robin van Persie a decade ago to score 30 goals for the club.

Man United boss Erik ten Hag challenged Rashford in May to score 40 goals in the coming season.

Rashford believes he is capable of this feat if he stays injury free throughout the season.

“Before last season I was always aiming for 20 goals, a good benchmark for a winger,” said Rashford. “But this season I passed 30, we have to try to push it now.

“Towards the end of the season I was struggling with a few injuries, and I wasn’t quite there – then the goals started to dry up a bit.

“If I can run that side of it under the tap, I feel like I can go ahead and get to 35 or 40.”

The Man United star has credited Ten Hag’s winning mentality since joining the club last season in helping transform the team’s fortunes.

Rashford admitted it would be a “dream” to lift the Premier League trophy with his boyhood club.

The Red Devils returned to the Champions League last season by finishing third, but finished 14 points behind eventual Premier League champions Man City.

Rashford believes Ten Hag can help the club take the next step in taking on rivals Man City.

“When you think about it, there’s nothing better than winning at Manchester United. At my age, I still have a great opportunity to try that,” Rashford said.

“The timing is closer than we think but we still need to take those extra steps and right now we have a manager who is totally committed to winning at all costs and he wants us to be the best we can be, individually and as good as possible.” if we can. as good as we can be as a team.

“At the end of the day he wants us to win trophies – there have been a couple of games where he came in at half time in a rage because we didn’t play well.

“He says we need to listen and relax – he knows we’re not playing well, but we’re still in the game, but we’re going to fight to win. It doesn’t matter if we win 1-0 or 3-0, but when we score that one goal, be ready for that one chance – it’s a refocus.

“It’s important that I keep that in mind to the point where he doesn’t have to keep reminding me — it just happens naturally.”

Marcus Rashford spoke on The Overlap, in association with Sky Bet