Marcus Rashford could make his first appearance since returning to Manchester United against AC Milan on Saturday – managed by Ruben Amorim, the man who bombed him out in the first place.
The England international has returned from a loan spell at Barcelona and is now intent on fighting to regain his place at Old Trafford.
He has been told he’s in Michael Carrick’s plans after United’s draw with Leeds in Dublin. By a quirk of fate, it is against Amorim’s Milan side that he will make his return, after an extended post-World Cup break.
Bryan Mbeumo led the line again here and got the assist for Joshua Zirkzee’s goal, but Carrick said of Rashford: ‘He’s our player. He’s come back great. He’s just like any other player… He gives us something a little bit different.’
The summer has been as much about evolution as it has been revolution, with the results of the Mbeumo striker experiment yielding some fascinating results.
The Cameroon international, 27, is far from your typical No9 but for Carrick, that is a big part of his appeal.
Marcus Rashford is in Michael Carrick’s plans after his return to Manchester United
United want to give academy star Shea Lacey some space in the first team and he predominantly plays off the right. There is also Amad Diallo, who is facing a defining season in that right-side role. Then you must add in the fact United only have one orthodox No9 option, Benjamin Sesko, and he hasn’t kicked a ball during pre-season due to a shin injury – although he did travel to Ireland to take part in this week-long training camp. Rashford could nudge himself ahead of the Slovenian.
Mbeumo as a striker, and a fluid one at that, holds great appeal and perhaps importance, especially if United do not sign another striker before the September 1 transfer deadline.
Mbeumo’s goals dried up in the second-half of last season and he struggled to rediscover the momentum that had United fans off their seats in the first-half of the campaign.
It led to questions over how Carrick could get the best out of him. But his double against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm, the equaliser in Gothenburg against Paris Saint-Germain and a brilliant piece of skill, coupled with an assist, for Zirkzee to open the scoring here against Leeds in Dublin showed just how much confidence is running through Mbeumo’s veins.
For the opening goal – and he should have had one of his own in the first half when he crashed a shot against the crossbar – he nutmegged two Leeds players as he burst down the left before playing Zirkzee through to score beyond new No1 James Trafford.
Leeds went on to equalise through Brenden Aaronson in the first half and were good value for it after a rocky start.
Despite Carrick’s side dominating the ball when their main men came on, it finished 1-1 in front of an 82,000-strong sell-out crowd at Croke Park. United won 5-4 on penalties.
Mbeumo is set to start as a centre forward at Hull City to kick-start United’s Premier League campaign on August 22. From there the sky feels like the limit for him. This is a formula now, not just an experiment.
