Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford is not only one of the most talented football players of his generation, but he is also proving to be truly inspirational away from the pitch as well.
Immediate Success for Little Known Teenager
There is no doubting that Rashford was highly thought of when coming through the youth ranks at United, but nobody could have envisaged what an immediate impact he would have when he was thrust into the line-up for a Europa League clash with Danish club Midtjylland in February 2016.
The then 18-year-old could easily have buckled under the pressure of making his Red Devils debut, but he took to it like a duck to water, scoring twice as United claimed a 5-1 victory.
If that didn’t make the footballing world sit up and take notice, then his performance against Arsenal in the Premier League just three days later certainly did, as the teenager once again scored twice and provided an assist as United won 3-2.
Rashford ended the 2015-16 campaign with eight goals in 18 appearances across all competitions and he was rewarded with a place in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for Euro 2016, going on to appear twice at those finals after scoring his first international goal in a warm-up friendly against Australia.
The Sky’s the Limit for Improving Star
The following two seasons saw Rashford consolidate his place in the United team, although the goals did not flow as regularly, while he was used largely as an impact substitute for England, including during their run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.
Indeed, it wasn’t until the 2018-19 campaign that Rashford reached double figures in terms of goals in the Premier League for the first time.
That rather slow progress may have led to some people doubting’s Rashford’s potential, but he appeared to answer those critics emphatically last term, as he struck 17 times in the Premier League and went beyond the 20-goal mark across all competitions for the first time.
Given how long he has been playing first-team football for, it is easy to forget that Rashford has only just turned 23, which means he still has plenty of time to improve further and perhaps go on to be one of the world’s best.
Sir Marcus Rashford?…. Perhaps One Day
While Rashford’s qualities on the pitch have been well known for some time, we are now also seeing what a truly inspirational person he is away from football as well.
The coronavirus pandemic has really brought that to the fore, with the 23-year-old having teamed up with charities such as FareShare back in March to help deliver food to disadvantaged children who were no longer receiving their free school meals during the country’s first lockdown.
In June, Rashford wrote an open letter to the UK government calling on them to end child poverty and, on the back of that, Downing Street extended the free school meals programme throughout the summer holidays.
Rashford was rewarded for his efforts with an MBE in October, but he has not stopped his good work and he is continuing to push for more support for disadvantaged families and to end child food poverty.
The Manchester native is so much more than just a professional footballer, with his charity work rightly being applauded and who knows, we may well be talking about Sir Marcus Rashford in the years to come.