By Tayo Amosu
October 18, 2014
Manchester United is desperate to keep young starlet, Marcus Rashford, as they face the risk of losing him to one of Manchester City, Arsenal or Chelsea, according to a Daily Star report.
Rashford is a 16-year-old highly impressive youngster who recently was named Manchester United’s best young prospect on Tuesday by The Guardian, but has refused to sign a pre-contract agreement with the Old Trafford outfit.
The Marcus Rashford situation at Manchester United would remind Louis Van Gaal of his predecessor, Alex Ferguson’s failure to tie Paul Pogba down to a professional contract and the Dutch man may not want to repeat such a mistake.
Paul Pogba had since grown to become one of Europe’s top players with Juventus, after United’s nonchalant attitude towards signing him.
In a similar fashion, Rashford isn’t allowed to sign professional contract until he turns 17 on October 31 and all effort by Manchester United to tie him to pre-contract agreement has failed so far.
Manchester United under Alex Ferguson lost not only Pogba but other youngsters in like manners because of the United’s policy of not handing big wage contracts to youngsters.
Manchester United lost John Obi Mikel to Chelsea, Aaron Ramsey to Arsenal and also lost Gerrard Pique to Barcelona in the last few years before Alex Ferguson retired recently.
Rashford and his representatives rejected an offer in May and no further talks have been held since.
Now Manchester United has found themselves in a rat race with other English Premier League clubs, especially, City rivals, Manchester City.
It wouldn’t at all go down well with the teeming Manchester United supporters if Marcus Rashford goes the way of Paul Pogba, by signing for another football club in the English Premiership.
While October 31st is just some weeks away, the inability of Manchester United to tie the player down to a pre-contract agreement means that, by the age of 17, the player has the liberty to sign for any club in England as he is a home grown talent.
If Rashford and his representatives get a big pay offer which Chelsea and Manchester City would readily afford, then, staying put and growing at Manchester United may not be included in their considerations anymore.
A report from The Mail suggest that Rashford was after a big wage, which negates Manchester United’s policy of paying young stars big wages, the same policy that cost United Paul Pogba, who got his big money offer from Juventus and jumped on the boat that led to the Old Lady in Turin.
It would be very disappointing to lose this youngster as it would mean that Louis Van Gaal learnt not from one of the mistakes of Alex Ferguson during his 26-year career as United manager.
Also, while Rashford may endure a slow but steady introduction into the Manchester United squad, another EPL rival Arsenal, would offer a better process of integration into the senior Arsenal squad as done with Aaron Ramsey.
Therefore, if Rashford prioritizes quick acceleration into the top flight over the big pay he is reportedly seeking, Arsenal may be a better option for him, as Chelsea and Manchester City would hope his refusal to sign a pre-contract agreement is money induced.
