Why fans will shrug at loss of Man Utd's brightest star

A couple of years ago, if the news had broken that Marcus Rashford wished to leave Manchester United and seek his future elsewhere, the effect on the club's fans would have been dramatic.

- JIM WHITE

This would have been a break-up as traumatic as any the history of the game, soundtracked by wailing and gnashing in of teeth. After all, born in Wythenshawe and brought up a United fan, Rashford is the epitome of how the club sees itself, discovering, developing and delivering local talent.

From the moment he marked his arrival in the first team, scoring on his debut in February 2016 as an emergency centre forward when he was just 18, he was seized upon by the supporters as something special, the natural born successor to Brian Kidd, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Wes Brown: the Manc Kid in red. For United followers, this was the ultimate football hero: one of their own.

And yet, now he has announced that he wishes to go, there are few of red persuasion mourning his departure. Most have greeted it with a resigned shrug, agreeing with his assessment that the end of the United road has been reached. Most acknowledge that he would be better off seeking fresh pastures. That is if anywhere else will have him.

The truth is the decline in Rashford’s reputation over the past couple of years has been as precipitous as any in the history of the game. Once, he terrified opponents both for his club and his country, his pace and power extraordinary to behold. Now, nothing seems to work for him. His attempts to better an opposition full-back invariably end in failure, goals are rarer than England World Cup wins, his body language offers up a new lexicon of hunched shoulders and resigned expressions.