Man Utd have signed a “maverick” who seems to be like one other Rashford-type star

England beat Wales 3-0 and Latvia 4-0 in the course of the worldwide break, however they did so with out utilizing a single present Manchester United participant within the squad.

Lengthy gone are the instances when the Pink Devils had a number of the nation’s finest gamers, like Wayne Rooney or Sir Bobby Charlton, as they at the moment discover themselves in a tough interval.

Rooney is, after all, a membership legend for United, due to the statistics within the graphic above, and is an England legend, having been the highest scorer within the nation’s historical past with 53 targets, earlier than Harry Kane obliterated his report, at the moment sitting on 76 targets.

There was technically a Man United attacker on the pitch in each of England’s video games in the course of the break, although, as Marcus Rashford got here off the bench in opposition to Wales and Latvia.

The left-winger, who’s at the moment on mortgage at Barcelona, has been a favorite underneath Thomas Tuchel and is competing with Anthony Gordon for a beginning berth on the World Cup subsequent yr.

There should still be many followers questioning the place all of it went unsuitable for Rashford at Outdated Trafford, as a result of he’s nonetheless adequate to be taking part in for Barcelona and England.

Why Marcus Rashford is just not taking part in for Man United

Past the plain cause that he’s at the moment out on mortgage, Rashford is just not taking part in for Manchester United as a result of there was a breakdown in his relationship with Ruben Amorim.

On the time of his transfer to Barcelona in the summertime, the BBC’s Simon Stone wrote that there was ‘no chance of Ruben Amorim’s arm being positioned spherical his shoulders’ to carry him again into the fold at Outdated Trafford.

That got here a couple of months after a really telling quote from the Portuguese boss. Shortly after Rashford left United to signal for Aston Villa on mortgage in January, Amorim stated: “What I say is I could not put Marcus to see the best way you are imagined to play soccer and to coach the best way I see it.”

In December, previous to his first mortgage transfer away from the membership, Sky Sports activities wrote that Amorim had been ‘unimpressed with Rashford’s utility on the coaching floor and his basic manner’.

Placing all of those items of knowledge collectively, it seems as if Rashford and Amorim reached a degree of no return, and it was not due to the ahead’s high quality.

As you may see within the desk above, the England worldwide has delivered seven objective contributions in ten matches for Barcelona since his transfer to the Spanish giants in the summertime.

Rashford, who scored a shocking objective in opposition to Newcastle United within the Champions League, has the standard to be a terrific performer off the left via or via the center, as additional evidenced by his 138-goal haul for United, per Transfermarkt.

Nonetheless, his strategy to coaching and matches, at instances, clearly was not adequate for what Amorim desires from his gamers, therefore why he has been despatched on mortgage twice in 2025.

The Pink Devils might now be cautious that they’ve recruited one other participant in his place who has the potential to comply with in his footsteps, in each a constructive and unfavourable sense.

INEOS splashed out a charge of £62.5m to signal attacking midfielder Matheus Cunha from fellow Premier League facet Wolverhampton Wanderers for Manchester United this summer season.

Why Matheus Cunha often is the subsequent Marcus Rashford

There is no such thing as a doubt that the Brazil worldwide is an extremely proficient attacker who has the potential to ship some magical moments in entrance of the Outdated Trafford crowd.

Cunha scored 31 targets and offered 14 assists in all competitions, per Sofascore, within the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns mixed for Wolves, which exhibits that he has confirmed himself as each a scorer and a creator in English soccer.

The Brazilian star, who journalist Samuel Luckhurst claimed has a “maverick swagger” about him, scored 15 targets and created 13 ‘huge possibilities’ for Wolves within the Premier League final season, per Sofascore.

Nonetheless, like Rashford, Cunha’s temperament has been referred to as into query at instances. For instance, in January when he seemingly did not acknowledge supporters after a 3-1 loss to Chelsea.

Supervisor Vitor Pereira commented on the state of affairs, saying: “I do not like this physique language. I would like somebody, as a captain, making an attempt to assist the staff – working, struggling and preventing all collectively. However that is one thing I can perceive. Subsequent time, I will not perceive.”

Pundit Clinton Morrison additionally claimed that “lack of professionalism” led to him lacking six matches via suspension final season, one for an incident involving an Ipswich member of workers and one other for one with Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez.

There was nothing to counsel that his perspective, professionalism, or utility has been a difficulty for him at Manchester United thus far, however his kind on the pitch has been a priority.

As you may see within the desk above, Cunha has did not ship within the Premier League for the Pink Devils thus far this season, with no targets, no ‘huge possibilities’ created, and no assists in six appearances.

His report for Wolves means that targets and assists will finally stream for the Brazil worldwide, however the concern could also be that he may comply with in Rashford’s footsteps if his performances don’t enhance.

The England worldwide finally moved on from Outdated Trafford, albeit on mortgage, after a return of simply 11 targets in his final 48 Premier League matches for the membership, per Transfermarkt, as his performances on the pitch didn’t make up for his utility points.

INEOS and Amorim will hope that the query marks over Cunha’s professionalism and utility from his time at Wolves don’t comply with over to his time in Manchester if his performances in entrance of objective don’t enhance within the coming weeks.

Cunha can look to Rashford, probably, for example of what to not do and, hopefully, knuckle down and enhance his kind with none of the bags that the English ahead introduced with him underneath Amorim.