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Rashford’s Rise: A Barnstorming Debut

By on May 30, 2016

In just three months, Marcus Rashford has risen from the youth team ranks at Manchester United to the front line of the England national team, all while studying for his A-Levels. In our multi-part perspective on his remarkable journey, we first look at the road to his memorable Manchester United debut against Midtjylland.

This whole professional soccer thing is still quite new to Marcus Rashford.  It was just ninety-four days ago that Rashford made his professional soccer debut and the eighteen-year-old’s world has been forever changed in a whirlwind journey from United youth-team hopeful to England national team goalscorer.

The homegrown United talent has confidently stepped from milestone to milestone and at a meteoric rate, scoring just an hour into his professional debut, a half-hour into his first Premier League appearance and only a minute-and-a-half into his first England start.

The Englishman broke onto the scene in February, but, of course, his story starts much earlier than that.  As a kid, he played for Fletcher Moss Rangers, a local youth club that has produced the likes of Wes Brown, Danny Welbeck, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, and Ravel Morrison.

He joined the United academy at the age of nine and was immediately identified as one of the best players in his age group. Former United academy coach Paul McGuiness told the BBC that Rashford’s elegant movement, clinical finishing, and wonderful touch set him apart.

“The talent was obvious,” said McGuiness. “There are late developers but quite often, if you are going to be the best, you are the best at eight. Danny Welbeck and Jonny Evans were top in their group right the way through. Ryan Giggs would have been the same.”

Rashford’s eye for goal has earned him plaudits from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and at sixteen, Rashford was playing for the Under-18s.  Although he struggled with coordination during a growth spurt in his early teens, he quickly returned to the top of his class.

“One we saw starting to emerge as he grew into his body more was Marcus Rashford,” McGuinness told United’s official website. “He put some exciting parts of games together and we saw some exciting things. He’s emerging and starting to do more.”

Rashford led the front line for Nicky Butt’s UEFA Youth League team in late 2015 after being handed the captain’s armband, taking him closer than ever to the first team.

His senior debut was a wonderfully happy accident for United.  The United academy has produced scores of talented youth products (they have the most academy graduates of any club playing in Europe’s top five divisions), yet just a select few get the chance to impress the senior team.  Fewer still make the break.

For Rashford, however, the stars aligned with a plethora of injuries and United’s struggles up front over the winter.  With Anthony Martial injured for United’s meeting against Midtjylland, Rashford got his opportunity to debut.

The teenager only learned he would be in the match-day squad against Midjtylland two days before the game, when Will Keane was injured in an FA Cup fifth round tie with Shrewsbury.  Twice before, Rashford had been a part of United’s match-day squad but had yet to make an appearance.  Famously, he phoned his mother to let her known he expected more or less the same for the Midtjylland game.

How wrong he was.  At first glance, Van Gaal’s youthful lineup suggested the Dutchman wasn’t all that concerned about the result of the Europa League when nothing could have been further from the truth.  United needed a victory at Old Trafford to avoid the embarrassment of elimination at the hands of the Danish side after a 2-1 defeat in the first leg, but injuries forced Van Gaal to field a weakened team.

To make matters worse, Anthony Martial pulled up with a hamstring injury during warm-ups and Rashford, the only center-forward on the bench, was handed an unexpected United start.  Two other players made their debuts for the Red Devils that day, Joe Riley and Regan Poole, and another two youth-team players appeared on the bench for the first time.  It was Rashford, though, who differentiated himself with a brace.

The young forward only saw fifty touches on the ball (the fewest of United’s outfield starters), but he made his contributions count.  He was a little jittery early on, thwacking a wayward cross over for a throw-in after a good move down the right, but his movement and energy up top helped open up the game for United.

He forced Midtjyjlland goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen into a smart stop with a dangerous low shot from the edge of the area and found his breakthrough on the other side of the half, bursting ahead of his marker to convert Juan Mata’s cut-back from the left.

Rashford has never looked back from that moment.  He added a second to his tally in the seventy-fifth minute, converting Guillermo Varela’s far-post cross, and stole the show soon after with a brilliant fake down the right before whipping in a dangerous cross.

Rashford stole the headlines in United’s 5-1 victory, becoming an overnight success.  No wonder they call Old Trafford the Theater of Dreams.

Stay tuned for Part Two in our profile of Marcus Rashford!

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.