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Marcus Rashford thunders towards the 2023-24 season on the back of his best campaign yet in the iconic red shirt.
As well as firing in 30 goals across all competitions in a stunning campaign, he also sealed a first piece of silverware since 2017 by scoring the second in the EFL Cup final to help his side beat Newcastle 2-0 back in February.
He has signed a fresh, bumper contract worth £300,000 per week, tying his future to his boyhood club until 2028.
In eight seasons with the Red Devils, the England star has captured the hearts of fans with his blend of determination, humility, and charity, winning as many plaudits for his acts off the pitch as on it.
Here, Mail Sport looks back on Rashford’s 10 greatest moments in a Manchester United shirt.
Marcus Rashford has signed a contract worth £300,000 per week , tying his future to his boyhood club until 2028.
Debut vs Midtjylland, 25th February 2016
Rashford’s debut threw him right in the pressure-cooker in front of the Old Trafford faithful, and it couldn’t have gone much more spectacularly.
United were behind Midtjylland of Denmark on aggregate in an unexpectedly tough Europa League last 32 clash, drawing 1-1 in the second leg after a 2-1 defeat in the first, when he was trusted to enter the fray.
Little did we know the youngster would turn out to be the prince of debuts. The 18-year-old hit two first-time strikes to help United on their way to a 5-1 win, something of a saviour to an injury-stricken outfit missing 13 players.
A rough diamond born and raised in the suburbs of Manchester was suddenly catapulted into the national conversation having become the club’s youngest European scorer.
Marcus Rashford, aged 18, scored two on his debut against Midtjylland in the Europa League
Premier League debut vs Arsenal, 28th February 2016
If the 18-year-old was on cloud nine against Midtjylland, he skyrocketed to cloud ten only three days later on his Premier League debut. And this time he was starting.
To anybody who questioned his credentials, Rashford smothered their foolish thoughts by scoring the first two and assisting the third against in a 3-2 win over Arsenal. Yes, he could do it at the top table. The hype was real.
His contributions that day derailed Arsenal’s title push, leaving them five points adrift of league leaders Leicester having played the same number of games.
On his Premier League debut, two goals and an assist from Rashford fired them to victory
Manchester derby-winning goal, 20th March 2016
Youngest this, youngest that. What we’ve come to realise with Rashford is that he has a penchant for breaking records, and arch-rivals Manchester City were one of his early victims.
Receiving a pass just outside the area, he combined whirring feet and rapid acceleration to leave Martin Demichelis on his haunches before slipping the ball past Joe Hart.
That goal made him the youngest-ever scorer in a Manchester derby and gifted the visitors a 1-0 victory in their nemesis’ backyard for the first time since 2012, ripping up the script and bolstering their top-four hopes – though those ambitions ultimately fell flat.
By this stage, clamour had started to bubble up to see Rashford in an England shirt, reflecting his overnight rise to the top of the game.
Though his rate of scoring inevitably slowed down, he finished that season with eight goals in 18 games, a remarkable feat for a striker of such tender years.
On his first trip to the Etihad Stadium, he became the youngest Manchester derby scorer ever
Winning the Europa League, 24th May 2017
This piece of silverware, though not his first, was the culmination of a special journey for Rashford.
In the quarter-finals, his 107th-minute goal against Anderlecht put United through. At the next stage, his stunning first-leg free-kick against Celta Vigo would be critical as they squeezed through 2-1 on aggregate.
While the competition is often ridiculed, beating Ajax 2-0 to win the Europa League represented a first European trophy in nine years and something of a vindication of Jose Mourinho’s turbulent time in the United cockpit.
Rashford played most of the final, having been selected to lead the line in Stockholm.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was one of Rashford’s early mentors and they lifted the Europa League
Brace against Liverpool, 10th March 2018
Most of the crowning moments in Rashford’s career up to this point were not set against a backdrop of adversity, yet this one was. He was fighting for scraps of playing time in an expensively assembled host of stars.
That season alone, Alexis Sanchez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Romelu Lukaku had sauntered into M16, and in that calendar year the young striker had notched fewer than 100 Premier League minutes.
Restored to the starting line-up, he took his opportunity to shine with two goals against Liverpool in a 2-1 win and keep himself firmly in the England picture for the 2018 World Cup.
He got he better of Trent Alexander-Arnold and ran riot to score twice in March 2018 vs LFC
Penalty winner against PSG, 6th March 2019
Everything about this felt cruel. How late it was: 94th minute. The manner of the penalty being given: a harsh VAR handball call against Presnel Kimpembe. Who Rashford faced off against: the legendary Gianluigi Buffon whose time to collect a Champions League medal was ebbing away.
When Rashford stepped up to take this high-stakes penalty, he knew PSG had a history of crumbling in the Champions League last 16, and boy did he make sure that their hearts would break again.
He blasted the ball into the roof of the net and exulted before a crestfallen Parc des Princes, having sent his side into the Champions League quarter-finals.
They were the first team in Champions League history to come back from a 2-0 or greater home first-leg deficit; 106 had tried before and failed. What did we say about Rashford breaking records?
Rashford haunted PSG with his 94th-minute strike to dump them out of the Champions League
Knuckleball free-kick vs Chelsea, 30th October 2019
In the grand scheme of the universe, a fourth-round EFL Cup victory doesn’t hold much significance. And yet somehow this goal did.
This was the pinnacle of free-kick scoring, the art form distilled to its purest element, player and ball acting in perfect unison to stun a stadium. Everything about the way he struck the ball, its drooping flight through the air, and the way it crashed into the netting beyond a flailing and hapless Willy Caballero somehow felt right.
It almost reduced Michy Batshuayi, whose leveller minutes earlier had cancelled out Rashford’s first, to tears. Stamford Bridge was in disbelief. Over the course of 35 yards, United’s No 10 had spellbound everyone in attendance.
He scored a sublime knuckleball free-kick against Chelsea in October 2019 in the EFL Cup
Hat-trick against RB Leipzig, 20th October 2020
Scything through Leipzig’s defence in front of an empty stadium, Rashford’s exploits on this night received little of the fanfare they deserved.
The upstart Germans could not resist his pace, movement, tricky feet, or finishing, to the point where you wondered if their defence was simply theoretical, a thing talked about but not there, something on the teamsheet to satisfy the game’s customs. Rashford, on one of his great nights, shell-shocked them.
In the process, he scored the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history in terms of minutes spent on the pitch. It took him just 27 to hit the net three times – another record shattered.
The matchball was all his after his 27-minute hat-trick against RB Leipzig in October 2020
Winning goal vs Manchester City, 14th January 2023
Manchester City are fertile opponents for Rashford, who has five goals against them over the years, a number bettered only by his performances against Leicester, Chelsea, and Liverpool. Make no mistake: Rashford is a big-game player.
In January, United staged a drastic comeback in the last 15 minutes of the game to inflict just a third defeat of the Premier League season on City, and of course Rashford was the one to seal it.
Manuel Akanji fell asleep for one moment, and away he was, dancing onto the end of Alejandro Garnacho’s cross and nutmegging Ederson. Cue pandemonium as United nicked a surprise 2-1 win and moved to within a point of their rivals.
The 25-year-old again made the difference aginst United’s arch-rivals in January last season
Carabao Cup goal vs Newcastle, 26th February 2023
For the fledgling Erik ten Hag administration at Old Trafford, winning the Carabao Cup meant so much. It was a statement of his worthiness for the job, the validity of his footballing ideas, and his control over his players.
Rashford scored the second in this 2-0 final win over their noisy opponents, stamping out an uprising from Tyneside to win Ten Hag his first bit of silverware in a brilliant first campaign.
In the context of Manchester City’s world domination, it might have felt like a slim reward, but a first trophy in six years was nothing to be scoffed at and Rashford helped put Ten Hag’s time at United on the map as they look to build for more trophies under him.
His Carabao Cup final goal against Newcastle helped make Erik ten Hag’s first year a success
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