It’s long been established that football executives largely lack the capacity for shame. Maybe it’s genetic, maybe just an industry requirement. Shame is not conducive to a job so public-facing and yet inherently unlikeable.
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to Marcus Rashford. There is a world in which the gradual, delicate rebuilding of his mind, career and reputation at Aston Villa would humiliate Ruben Amorim and his employers, raising serious questions about their competence and wider club environment. But of course, no risk of that.
For Manchester United, this means his tentative success only holds positives. Two months into his loan, it’s going exactly as they hoped, perhaps better. Too aggressive a miracle recovery: could inflict reputational damage on the parent club, even if they don’t care. Too little progress elsewhere: see Jadon Sancho. Progress and promise, without setting the world alight: just right.
Not receiving a loan fee, the 75 per cent of his salary Villa are covering could rise to 90 if enough performance-related incentives are met. The £40m agreed price is optional, and Unai Emery said after the FA Cup win over Preston that the club’s decision on taking up that option is dependent on results through the rest of this season.
United know any hope of a functioning on-pitch relationship with Rashford is dead, such is the depth of emotional breakage, the shattered trust and overwhelming expectation turned world-bending pressure. Anything salvageable in the festering wreckage that relationship went out of the window when Amorim said he would rather pick his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach than Rashford.
Their only priority now is bleeding as much profit as possible from the man who has given the best part of his career and an irreplaceable part of his soul to the club. Who knows, it could even fund free staff lunches for the next 50 years, or more likely one of the flightpath-bothering towers of Sir Norman Foster’s stadium vision.
Rashford’s two goals on Sunday – his first at Villa and in 119 days across both clubs – are not necessarily the first signs of a revolution. Lads, it’s Preston. Yet any improvement is still so gratefully received.
Alongside the brace, Rashford has four assists since moving, all for Marco Asensio. There will need to be a lot more over the coming months to persuade Emery and Co this is worth permanent investment, but an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace and Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain allow him opportunity to prove that.
“I feel like I’ve been getting fitter and playing better football since I’ve been here,” Rashford said post-match. “I missed a lot of football before joining up with them. My body feels good and I’m enjoying my football for now.”
Emery spoke along similar lines: “There is still work, still weeks to get it, but today he did one step forward. He is feeling comfortable, getting confident and scoring goals. He was obviously getting better, but today it was more in his adaptation and helping us.
“The process we have with him is more or less not changing. There is still work to do because he came here after not training consistently and not feeling in his best fitness. Progressively playing more and with the national team will help him to feel better and today was confirmation of that, which is good.”
There’s a dig at United in there somewhere, but they’ll only care about the perceived progress. Even if Villa ultimately cannot afford Rashford, previous suitors Barcelona and PSG will be more inclined to pay up with every improved performance.
The same goes for Antony at Real Betis, with four goals and four assists in his 12 matches since leaving Old Trafford. His is another loan deal dependent on performance-based incentives, but with no pre-agreed fee. Isco joked on Sunday Betis would need to start crowdfunding to sign the man widely considered the worst Premier League signing ever. Three months ago that would have been beyond United’s wildest fantasies.
Sporting director Manu Fajardo said recently that “Antony is performing immediately from minute one in the squad”. He also explained any permanent signing would be contingent on Betis staying “in the top European positions”. From here, as with Rashford, the happier and more successful Antony is, the better for United.
It is increasingly clear Ineos’s primary objective is emotional and financial bloodletting, a purging of past mistakes – if only to provide space to make new ones – and lasering of scars. Cut before you bulk. Out with the old, in with Dorgu. This is a reasonable realisation for any followers of popular soap opera turned farce: Manchester United 2013-2025.
Of course United might well still have Sancho’s slumped shoulders back at Carrington in the summer, but shedding Rashford and Antony for anything above a nominal fee can only be good. Every goal and assist, against Preston or otherwise, can only help that happen.
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