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Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has looked like a player reborn since he departed Old Trafford to join Aston Villa just before the close of the January transfer window.
Rashford struggled in Erik ten Hag’s last one-and-a-half seasons at United and also failed to break into Ruben Amorim’s plans at Old Trafford.
He fell out of favour under Amorim, who regularly insisted that the reason he repeatedly left him out of the squad was for training and selection reasons. There were however suspicions that the two were involved in a bust-up, which accelerated the breakdown in their relationship.
Before arriving at Villa Park, Rashford had not featured competitively since December 12 but now appears to be finding his feet again.
On Saturday, he came on from the bench and produced an electric performance to steer Villa to a 2-1 comeback win over Chelsea.
Rashford provided both assists for Marco Asensio’s brace. In addition to his assists, he looked dangerous throughout the second half, with the Chelsea defenders unable to contain him.
According to statisticians Opta, since Rashford made his debut for Unai Emery’s side, he tops the Premier League rankings for most big chances created, assists and dribbles.
Since first lining up for Villa, Rashford has created the most big chances (4), has the joint-most assists (2) and has made the joint-most dribbles (15).
1 – Since his debut for Aston Villa, Marcus Rashford has created the most big chances in the Premier League (4). He also has the joint-most assists (2) and has made the joint-most dribbles (15). Rejuvenated. pic.twitter.com/tiLPzooeYU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2025
It’s certainly good to see Rashford enjoying his football once again – sentiments that were echoed by Alan Shearer.
Shearer said on Match of the Day [via BirminghamLive], “He looks as though he’s got a bit of love back for the game and there’s no doubt he’s playing with more energy in the start to his Villa career than we’ve seen in him for a long time.”
For United and Amorim, the difficult question remains whether Rashford could have been making a difference for them instead of helping a rival club finish the season strongly.
United’s attacking struggles are no secret and on current form, Rashford would have perhaps been a game-changer.
Amorim and his players are back in action on Wednesday when they host relegation-threatened Ipswich Town.
Featured image Clive Mason via Getty Images
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