From footie sensation to sidelined and up for sale – what went wrong and what could be next for Marcus Rashford?

Marcus Rashford is still only just 27, but since bursting onto the football world stage just nine years ago he seems to have gone through more ups and downs than most players do in their entire careers.

The Manchester United striker has both been hailed a national hero, a role model who represents the best of Britain – but also criticised for his “selfish” behaviour, lazy work ethic and bad attitude.

And while he was once held up as the saviour of both his club and country, he has more recently struggled to even get on the team sheet, and been dropped from the national side.

It’s the kind of decline that normally affects a player at the end of their career – not one at the age most are at their prime.

And now the man who once said he could never leave Man United says it’s time to do just that. Amid news that the club wants to put him up for sale, and after being left out of Sunday’s Manchester derby, the footballer today admitted he’s “ready for a new challenge and the next steps”.

Poignantly visiting his old primary school to give out presents to school kids. He told sports reporter Henry Winter: “When I leave it’s going to be ‘no hard feelings’. You’re not going to have any negative comments from me about Manchester United. That’s me as a person.”

He added: “If I knew that a situation is already bad I’m not going to make it worse. I’ve seen how other players have left in the past and I don’t want to be that person. When I leave I’ll make a statement and it will be from me.”

Rashford’s recent slump in form, however, means that his asking price, which would have been as much as £100m a few years ago, has more than halved, according to pundits.

So what has happened to Marcus Rashford, and can pastures new help him regain the form that once made him England’s brightest footballing hope?

Mirror football commentator Darren Lewis believes he can find glory again, and that it’s only Rashford’s love for the club he joined at the age of seven – and for which he has scored 138 goals in 426 appearances – which has held him back so far.

He says that a “combination of things have contributed to Rashford’s loss of form”, but points out that a revolving door of managers since the departure of Alex Ferguson also affected other players, like Jadon Sancho, who “chose to leave rather than be dragged down and are now challenging for the title at Chelsea.”

He adds: “Perhaps it was sentiment stopping the boy who became a man at the club from doing the same thing. But now Rashford appears to be taking control of his career in a superb piece of PR rather than feel sorry for himself – and it has taken everyone by surprise.”

It was only in February 2016 when the then-unknown 18-year-old first took everyone by surprise, when he made his debut for Manchester United against Danish side Midtjylland in the Europa League and scored twice – becoming the club’s youngest ever scorer on his first day.

Days later he scored again in his Premier League debut against Arsenal, then netted the only goal in the Manchester derby a month later – and Rashford mania engulfed the country.

Ridiculously talented and displaying a maturity beyond his years, Marcus could do no wrong – and when he took up the fight for hungry kids during the Covid pandemic he became a hero off the pitch too.

Even those with no interest in football were impressed by the humility of the young player who never forgot where he came from, growing up poor while his single mum Melanie worked multiple jobs and often skipped meals to ensure her children had enough to eat.

In particular, he remembered how difficult it was for his mum to pay for school dinners. He and his two brothers relied on breakfast clubs, free school meals, soup kitchens and food banks, while each year his family would travel to Northern Moor in Manchester to collect their free Christmas dinners.

When the Government voted against extending free school meal vouchers during half term, Marcus forced them into an embarrassing U-turn, later convincing them to extend vouchers into the summer holidays too.

His child poverty campaigning earned him an honorary doctorate at the University of Manchester, an MBE and a mural painted on a wall in the Withington area of the city, which became a shrine for Rashford fans.

But he also had to learn to deal with abuse and hatred, from those who criticised him for playing politics instead of football, to the racist slurs and threats he and England teammates Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka received when they missed penalties in the shootout against Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

Following the loss, his mural was also defaced with racist graffiti. With inimitable style, he issued a statement saying: “I can take critique of my performance all day long… but I will never apologise for who I am and where I came from.”

Some on-pitch wobbles followed, but Rashford returned to form in 2022/23 marking his best ever campaign, scoring a career-high 30 goals and being named the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year by the club’s supporters and playing squad.

But then he seemed to lose his way again, with discipline problems on and off the pitch and uncharacteristic behaviour, which led to fears the star striker was struggling and needed support.

In October last year, manager Erik ten Hag slammed as “unacceptable” reports Rashford had gone clubbing just hours after his club was beaten 3-0 by Man City in the Manchester derby, making him apologise.

And in January this year Rashford went on a 12-hour booze bender in Belfast, where he downed tequila shots and cocktails before collapsing on a hotel bed just before 3am – then phoned in sick for training the next day.

He was fined £650,000 – two weeks’ wages – while a furious ten Hag dropped him from the FA Cup tie at Newport County the following week.

Reports also suggested the footballer wasn’t getting on with his teammates, with the rest of the squad “tired of selfish behaviour” from the “very moody” star who often cuts a miserable figure in training and has only managed 11 Premier League goals since last summer.

His attitude didn’t seem to get better with the new United manager Ruben Amorim. In a game last month, after Amorim was seen telling him to take his gloves off, Rashford appeared to throw them onto the ground, with a staff member forced to pick them up.

Henry Winter, however, believes that not all his problems are of his own making, and that he could still play his best football away from Old Trafford.

“He’s 27, peak time for a player, combining experience and athleticism, and he should be embedded in a team, creating an even bigger legacy,” he said on X in a post.

According to Winter’s post, Rashford told him: “I’m halfway through my career.I don’t expect my peak to be now. I’ve had nine years so far in the Premier League and that’s taught me a lot, that’s helped me grow as a player and as a person.”

Asked if the best was yet to come, Rashford replied: “100%. That’s my mentality.’”