"It looked as if he didn't want to be there at all" – Alan Shearer suggests Manchester United superstar isn't playing for the badge anymore
Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has suggested that Marcus Rashford is not interested in turning up for his club following Manchester United's latest 1-0 league defeat at St. James' Park.
The Red Devils, who finished third in the Premier League past campaign, slumped to their 10th loss in 21 matches across all competitions on Saturday (December 2). Anthony Gordon bagged the winner in the 55th minute of Newcastle's home match against the Red Devils.
During a chat on The Rest is Football podcast, Shearer was queried if the seventh-placed Manchester United could show a notable improvement this Premier League season. He replied (h/t Metro):
"I don't see it. I think it's a long-term job, it's been a long-term job already. They haven't been where they want to be for years now, and eventually what happens is that it comes down onto the pitch, and that's been there for a while. The money they've spent [on] some of the players... Antony and [Jadon] Sancho."
Opining on 26-year-old Rashford's recent poor outing, Shearer added:
"When you look at Rashford's performance, it looked as if he didn't want to be there at all. When he got dragged off you could see his reaction. [Alejandro] Garnacho was really struggling, he scored a wonder goal last week but they've spent £70 million on Sancho, £80 million on Antony, and they can't get in the team for whatever reason, that sums it up for Manchester United, for me."
Shearer, who helped Blackburn Rovers lift the title in 1995, concluded:
"Clearly, you don't have to be a genius to work it out, clearly there's an issue in that dressing room, you can see that. You can see when the arms go up when, 'It's not my fault', or players try to send a reaction to their own fans to say, 'This is not my fault', as soon as that happens you just know there's an issue in the dressing room and that happened too many times [against Newcastle]."
Rashford, who registered 30 goals and 11 assists in 56 overall outings last season, has scored just two goals in 18 outings this season. He has also provided just four assists in 1403 minutes of first-team action.
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Van de Beek, who joined the Red Devils from Ajax for an initial fee of £34 million in 2020, has almost been frozen out of his team's plans this season. He has featured in just 21 minutes of action so far.
So far, the 26-year-old Dutchman has contributed two goals and two assists in 62 matches across all competitions for Manchester United.