RASH CALL FAILS TO DELIVER FOR TUCH

Marcus miss sums up his loss of confidence

- By Jeremy Cross

ARCUS Rashford has found to his cost in recent times how friends can be hard to find in football.

He ran out of them at Manchester United — his hometown club.

‘And even Aston Villa didn’t want him, despite Rashford finding a semblance of his best form again on loan there in the second half of last season.

He thought this didn’t matter, because it enabled him to secure another loan move, this time to Barcelona. But perhaps he thought wrong.

Because it has taken just over a month for the murmurings to start about all not being well in the relationship between Rashford and the Catalans,

Reports back in Spain have claimed Barca bosses are even weighing up whether to send the forward back to United.

It has been suggested that Rashford is going ‘completely unnoticed’ in games and has been looking ‘shy, imprecise and lost’.

Sound familiar?

The mere prospect of Barca ending the loan agreement at a cost of €5m is enough to send a shiver down the spine of United chiefs, not least manager Ruben Amorim.

But right on cue, from the cloud of negativity surrounding one of England’s most high-profile stars, emerged a mate when he needed one. In the shape of Thomas Tuchel.

Not content with picking Rashford in his squad for the latest World Cup qualifiers, he went one better and started him for the visit of Andorra.

Ollie Watkins might have been on the front of the match programme but it was Rashford headlining England’s attack alongside captain Harry Kane.

It felt like an absolute gift from Tuchel.

A start on a ground he was familiar with, against a team which had conceded seven goals in their last three games - and have turned losing into an art form.

Tuchel has made no secret of the fact he is invested in Rashford.