“Manchester United has been everything in my life since I arrived here at the age of seven. This club has shaped me, both as a player and as a person, so it is such a privilege every time I get the opportunity to wear the shirt. It is a huge sense of pride and a huge feeling for me to sign the contract. Manchester United are one big family. Some clubs don’t have that, it’s just a football club. That’s why Manchester United are more than a football club to me”, Marcus Rashford said at the start of July, after signing a new contract with his boyhood club.
England international signed a new four-year deal with an option for another one, which will see him earn 200-250 thousand pounds per week. The club obviously backs him for great successes in the future, but many fans were unhappy with the new contract the player got. Why is that? Are any of the reasons for it part of the previous campaign?
Appearances across all competitions
Marcus Rashford was one of the most used forwards for Man United last season. He played 33 matches in Premier League, starting 26 of them. In the FA Cup, he had two starts and two substitution appearances, while also adding 10 Champions League appearances.
Rashford scored 13 goals in total, 10 in Premier League, two in Champions League and one in FA Cup. He also added eight assists across all competitions, bringing his total tally of 21 goal contributions.
Did he perform above or below the expectations?
This is the one question every Man United fan could have their answer to. This was Rashford’s first Premier League campaign in which he scored double digit number of goals. He never got past seven league goals in a season and that is definitely some progress, but is it that big for him to get such a big contract this summer? That is where the debate starts and what is obvious that Rashford even slightly underperformed in terms of goals. His expected goals amounted to a little over 11, which is not a big underperformance, but even these 10 goals were slightly lucky.
He scored three goals out of the box, which is a nice bonus, but Rashford is still not talking a lot of shots per 90 – he is at 3.20 – whilst also not choosing great positions to shoot from. From his 84 shots in the league, 35 came from the distance and the largest part of them were very low value shots. This was not an impressive season for him and after 22 league goals in the last three seasons, Rashford will be expected to up his game next season.
Will he be a part of Manchester United during the 2019-20 season?
Yes, this is the easiest question to answer. After signing a new deal with Man United, Rashford will stay and from what we can see, he could be one of the players around which the Devils will be building a new team. Whether his qualities are good enough for that too happen already this season and whether he will have a good ‘supporting cast’, those are completely different questions.
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