After the Liverpool match at Old Trafford, people can criticise Mourinho as he promotes defensive football or there is no pride in negative football, but what Manchester United showed that day was a sheer intelligence and presence of mind how to bottle up the best attacking force in recent European football.
That day, another guy from the Red Devils’ side emerged from the ashes, scored two goals in the interval of 10 mins, Marcus Rashford, came to rescue the side, when they needed most.
Rashford started the current season on a positive way and seemed one of the first choices of Mourinho in Manchester United.
The England international faced some turmoils in the recent weeks and not get a single full time match since the Boxing Day. He was suffering from the goal drought since United’s defeat to Manchester City on December 10, until the Liverpool match gave him the result.
With the arrival of Alexis Sanchez, Rashford is getting even less match time and that is what may lead him to leave Old Trafford.
Big guns of Premier League like Tottenham and Chelsea have already shown their urgence to sign him up. The Football analysts believe that arrival of Sanchez has pushed Rashford further down in the pecking order.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Liverpool are also in the race for the United 20-year-old, which has totally lit up the saga.
Pundit Jamie Carragher believes that presence of Mourinho is certainly one of the reason of his (Rashford) departure. Mourinho will never give him the slot he deserves in front of Lukaku, Sanchez or even Martial.
On the other hand, Chelsea and Arsenal were the close observants of the forward. Speculations have already been raised at Emirates regarding the future of Alexandre Lacazette. Arsene Wenger felt no shy expressing his admiration for this young lad, but he may face some serious competition from the Spanish giants Real Madrid. The defending European Champions who were unconvincing in their Champions League last-16 win against Paris Saint-Germain are expected to cash in for this future star in coming summer. Though the rumours have been gone so high regarding Harry Kane’s move to Real Madrid, but Tottenham are showing real resistance in spite of their €300m proposal.
The Stamford Bridge could be another potential home for Rashford next season. Chelsea is suffering from serious finisher problem. Arrival of Morata and Giroud have not helped them much till now, where only Hazard and Willian are pulling the chariot by their own shoulders upfront. Tottenham looks like an one man army upfront in the box. They have no backup plans for Kane. Though Son is pretty good upfront, but rather best suits in the wings. With Llorente, Rashford would be a vital support in the Spurs attack.
Manchester United is now at second place in Premier League with 65 points in their 30 matches behind their arch rivals Manchester City, who are 13 points ahead. After the 2-1 win against the Reds, they are seeming quite confident with no major injury reports and they are gonna face Sevilla in Champions League tomorrow in their home leg at Old Trafford.