We love Marcus Rashford who plays when the joy, the glow, the energy – and the finishes are under and around United’s shirt no. 10. For the past year and a half, everything that has made Rashford a world-class player has been completely absent. Back is a shell that doesn’t justify his £325,000 salary or place in Manchester United’s starting eleven. For us, this will be a case for Antonio Conte.
You don’t have to like the Italian or be particularly impressed with what he delivered at Chelsea or Tottenham, but no one can take away from the Italian bundle of energy the job he did as Inter Milan coach with Romelu Lukaku in particular, but also Alexis Sanchez and Ashley Young.
Three Manchester United players who were written off at Old Trafford, but who Conte really got going. Lukaku went from being labelled as “fat” at United, to playing and scoring as one of Europe’s sharpest top scorers at Conte and Inter.
Now Lukaku is back with Conte, this time in a Napoli shirt. The Belgian was actually on his way to Juventus, but waited for and took advantage of the opportunity to play for Conte once again.
Marcus Rashford has been linked to Napoli as part of a swap deal in which Victor Osimhen is sent to Manchester United. Whether this will happen is of course uncertain, but we think Rashford will get a total makeover under Antonio Conte’s “wildness” energy, hands-on coaching, as well as training and attacking football at high octane.
This will wake Marcus Rashford out of the slumber he got himself into after his fantastic 30-goal 2022/23 season.
Marcus Rashford + Conte equals world class.
