Whether it’s deserved or not, young striker Marcus Rashford is on the brink of receiving a major pay raise at Manchester United. And when we say “major,” we really mean it, as £250,000-a-week is the number being reported by 90 Min, who write the club’s higher-ups are hoping to close this deal “before the squad fly to Australia on 8 July, when their pre-season preparations will get underway.”
Tomorrow brings the opening of training camp, with still a lot of transfer business to get done this summer, in addition to the Rashford negotiations.
That salary figure, if it should be reached, would make Marcus Rashford the third highest paid player on the club, behind only Paul Pogba (£300,000-a-week) and Alexis Sanchez (£500,000-a-week).
That’s actually not good company, not at all, when you consider how those two deals have panned out for the club. Sure, it’s great to be Sanchez and Pogba, and to collect such a massive paycheck every week, but both acquisitions have been tremendous disappointments.
Regarding Sanchez, he’s widely regarded to be the worst signing in club history, given his enormous salary, injury riddled stint at United and the severe lack of production on the pitch when he has been healthy. As for Pogba, he’s the best player in the team by a wide margin, and the only individual to make the PFA Team of the Year this past season.
However, he’s been and continues to be a major distraction to the club, and many believe he’s playing for the name on the back of shirt/his own individual brand, and not the crest. The most expensive player in British history, his personality and priorities have been thought to make him toxic in the dressing room.
If Marcus Rashford does get the big rise in pay grade, it’s very likely to lead to ultimate disappointment.
His numbers did improve this past season, but not by such a significant margin that he deserves this new bumper deal. In 33 Premier League matches this past season, he registered 10 goals and six assists. In 2017-18, in 35 games, he scored seven times and accumulated five assists.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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