Refreshed Marcus Rashford Ready To Fight Under Erik Ten Hag Next Season

The 2021/22 season was the toughest of Marcus Rashford’s career, but after having his first real break in a few years he feels ready to get going again.

Rashford’s last full pre-season tour with Manchester United was in the summer of 2019. Since then he has played in 132 matches for the club, as well as representing his country.

For a large portion of these matches, he was not actually fit to play and irresponsible management saw him deteriorate physically, which led to his struggles for form.

Speaking to club reporter Joe Ganley in an interview, Rashford has said that he feels ‘refreshed and excited for the future’, expressing his excitement for the upcoming pre-season tour and giving some insight into the first week of training under new boss Erik ten Hag. 

“We have got that feeling of excitement and that buzz around the training ground again and so it is definitely positive going into pre-season,” said the club’s number 10.

Manchester United

“It is just about, one, getting the principles right of how Erik wants us to play and the details, and, two, enjoying it.

"In the first week of training we have done both and everyone is looking forward to going on the tour and putting what we have done in training into the first games.”

Rashford is right that it is crucial the players buy into Ten Hag’s plans, something they never really seemed to do under interim Ralf Rangnick.

United need to rebuild, and the Englishman touched on the fact that every player now has a fresh start under Ten Hag.

“It is a fresh start for everyone and for me personally I have had quite a long break, a nice camp before coming back into training, and how we are starting off on the right foot.

“Like I said, everyone is looking forward to pre-season now and going out to try to put into the games what we have learned in training so far, and what we will continue to learn, not only in the pre-season but throughout the season as well.”

Rashford has always placed great importance on his physical shape.

Over the summer shared videos of him working on his physical conditioning as he seeks to return to the peak physical level that saw him look one of the most dangerous attackers in European football.

He went on to give a little insight into his individual training over the summer.

“I have definitely not had that much rest before in a summer break, so it was a little bit strange at first and I had to adjust my program a little bit, make it a little bit longer, so I could come in with a positive look on everything, and like I say we are excited to go away now.

"You feel every day now you are getting that one step sharper and one step fitter to being ready for the season.”

Rashford continued, “I don't think I have had a proper pre-season since 2019 so for me it is definitely a positive thing.

"I feel like I probably needed that time to switch off a little bit and me having that time enabled me to refocus a lot earlier than I expected to be honest. It was just a few days over four weeks and I always split it in half, so I had two weeks when I was just relaxing and a little over two weeks when I was training so it's been a good period for me.

“Like I say, I feel ready and focused so when that first game does come it's good to know you have done almost six weeks of training beforehand. It will definitely be a positive.”