Marcus Rashford ‘worry’ revealed as star could enrage Man Utd fans; pundit assesses potential impact

Ciaran McCarthy
Marcus Rashford transfer Man Utd
Marcus Rashford has signed for Aston Villa.

Sue Smith feels Ollie Watkins is likely to stay at Aston Villa, who are closing in on the signing of Marcus Rashford, in a move which could end up receiving backlash from Manchester United fans.

Rashford is clearly not on Ruben Amorim’s good side. After starring in the manager’s first few games in charge, the forward has not been seen on the pitch since early December.

Amorim has suggested he does not like what he’s seeing in training from the star, and until the point he does, he’ll sit out at United. That might not be a problem for long, as Rashford is reportedly nearing a loan move to Aston Villa.

Smith hinted there could be a bad reaction from United fans if the forward heads to Villa and suddenly has his head in the game and returns to his star status.

“So they now have options. Aston Villa needed to strengthen. They’ve got a lot of injuries, they’re obviously trying to compete in the Champions League and in the Premier League so they needed to bring players in and I think Unai Emery will back himself to get the best out of Marcus Rashford,” she said on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday.

“But my worry is selling him to a rival club. You just think if he goes to Aston Villa and performs at a very very high level, what will the Manchester United fans think?”

Smith also believes that there are a couple of potential roles for Rashford, who could play alongside Watkins – who she feels will remain at Villa Park – or he could come off the bench to look to impact the game late, as Jhon Duran often did before recently being sold to Al Nassr.

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“I still think they’ll try and keep him [Watkins], Unai Emery had him and Duran for that period of time where having those two options was great having that competition for places where if it wasn’t quite working for Watkins, Duran would come on and score the winner,” Smith added.

“I also think Marcus Rashford, he’s got that versatility so he can come off the left he can come off the right if need be he can obviously be the option in the number nine if they need to rotate with Ollie Watkins, they’ve obviously brought in [Donyell] Malen as well.”

Villa have the weapons to be able to succeed, and Emery will certainly believe he can get the best out of Rashford, or he’d simply not have signed him.

READ MORE: Aston Villa in talks for stunning move after Rashford as pieces in place to land 18 G/A PSG star