Marcus Rashford became a fan favourite at Old Trafford and five major honours, including the UEFA Europa League. But it all turned sour in the 2024/25 season and he was loaned to Aston Villa.

Rashford burst onto the scene as a teenager at United after coming through their youth academy. After representing England at various youth levels, he made his debut for the senior national team under Roy Hodgson in 2016.

Rashford started his career with Fletcher Moss Rangers at the age of five as a goalkeeper and has cited former Manchester United stopper Tim Howard as an early source of inspiration.

Rashford often had to miss training due to a lack of transport, as his mother and brothers were working. Youth coaches Dave Bushell, Eamon Mulvey and Tony Whelan helped Rashford find drivers to get him to the training ground.

Rashford was quickly earmarked as a potential star and was fast-tracked through the age group system. He trained with the first team during the 2013/14 season under the management of David Moyes.

In 2015, after Nicky Butt had appointed Rashford as captain of the Manchester United Under-19 team, he found himself on the bench for the senior team for their 2-1 Premier League win over Watford under Louis van Gaal.

On March 20, he scored the only goal of the derby against Manchester City, helping United to their first away league win over City since 2012.

A superb curling strike helped Manchester United to a sixth round FA Cup replay win over West Ham United. They ended up winning the trophy, with Rashford up-front in the final against Crystal Palace. Rashford finished the season with eight goals from 18 appearances.

By Mourinho's own admission, he did not see Rashford as an out-and-out number nine. Consequently, Rashford spent much of the season either on the bench or on the wing, but still made 53 appearances, winning the Europa League and EFL Cup in the process.

Rashford went on to make 52 appearances in the 2017/18 season as United finished second in the Premier League behind a rampant Manchester City.

In the 2019/20 season he scored 17 Premier League goals, which equalled his tally in the two previous seasons combined. As a result he came third in the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award.

Rashford hit a rich vein of form after returning from the World Cup and took his goal tally for the season to 25, across all competitions, before the Carabao Cup final in late February 2023.

He had a major hand in Manchester United's second goal in the final, after Newcastle's Sven Botman deflected his strike over goalkeeper Loris Karius and into the net for an own goal.

United went on to win the match 2-0 and end their longest trophy drought in 40 years, and Rashford collected his second League Cup winners' medal.

Rashford goes off the boil at Old Trafford

Despite signing a new five-year deal in July 2023, Rashford's career at Manchester United started to go down a slippery slope.

He started the season in the first team and scored twice in the first 13 Premier League games, before finding himself on the bench.

Rashford rediscovered his scoring touch over Christmas, netting three consecutive goals, but then missed an FA Cup clash with Newport after 'calling in sick', which became an internal disciplinary issue.

He then grabbed a few more in March against Manchester City and Everton in the league and Liverpool in the FA Cup, but that was it for goals during the campaign. Rashford ended the season with an FA Cup winners' medal, but only eight goals to his name from 43 games across all competitions.

Rashford scored just four goals before Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was sacked in late October 2024.

He made a goalscoring start to new head coach Ruben Amorim's tenure, with a goal against Ipswich in late November, and two against Everton in early December.

But he quickly found himself out of favour with the Portuguese boss after that, and struggled to make the squad from mid December onwards.

When asked about Rashford's failure to make it into the Manchester United team, Amorim said he didn't want to pick "a player who doesn't give the maximum every day".

On transfer deadline day in February 2025, Rashford joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the season with an option to buy for £40m. He had made 426 appearances for Manchester United and scored 138 goals.

“I think it’s clear. We’re obviously still in the Champions League, we want to go as far as we can in that. If you don’t aim to win it, you’re never going to win it. That’ll be my main objective, and keep pushing in the league to get as high as possible," Rashford told VillaTV.

“Obviously, (it’s) the biggest competition for a club to be involved in. I’m sure it will be a new experience for me, playing for Villa in the Champions League. It’s always going to be a great moment, but the aims remain the same, to try and do our best to win it.

“I’ve played a fair amount of games in the Champions League, so I feel like I’m experienced and know how to handle those types of situations. But, like I say, it's a new environment, new team, new team-mates, so it's about shared experiences and using each other's experiences to help you get through the game and hopefully keep winning.

“I know I can hurt teams, I know when I’m playing at my best, I can decide football games. That’ll be my only ambition and only goal, to help the team win more games, more points and hopefully create history.

“It’s an ambitious time for this club and a great opportunity for me to join the team and help them keep pushing forward."

Despite earlier suggestions that he would remain in the England youth ranks for some time in order to protect his development, Rashford was fast-tracked into Roy Hodgson's Euro 2016 squad.

He made his debut for the England senior national team on May 27, 2016, starting a warm-up match against Australia and scoring after three minutes. He thus became the youngest Englishman to score on his international debut.

In the 2-1 win over Wales at the tournament finals, Rashford came on as a substitute for Adam Lallana.

Rashford was part of the England side that finished fourth at the 2018 World Cup in Russia under Gareth Southgate, the team's best performance at a major tournament since 1990. He was also influential in helping England qualify for Euro 2020.

At the tournament itself, though, Rashford struggled to make a major impact. He did not start any of England's seven games as they reached the final of the competition for the first time in their history.

In his first game in an England shirt since the Euro 2020 final, he came off the bench to score the fifth goal in the 6-2 group stage win in Qatar.

In the final World Cup group game against Wales, Rashford, making his first England start since June last year, scored a fine free-kick to break the deadlock before scoring again to round off the 3-0 victory after Phil Foden had doubled the lead.

Rashford scored his 16th and 17th goals for England in the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, but due to poor form during the season he wasn't selected for the squad that went to the finals in Germany.

In June 2020, during the pandemic, Rashford wrote an open letter to the British parliament saying: "The Government has taken a 'whatever it takes' approach to the economy - I'm asking you today to extend that same thinking to protecting all vulnerable children across England.

"I encourage you to hear their pleas and find your humanity. Please reconsider your decision to cancel the food voucher scheme over the summer holiday period and guarantee the extension.

"This is England in 2020, and this is an issue that needs urgent assistance.

"Please, while the eyes of the nation are on you, make the U-turn and make protecting the lives of some of our most vulnerable a top priority."

In his letter, he cited his own experience as a child, relying on the generosity of the community around him to help him survive in trying circumstances.

In September, Rashford formed the Child Food Poverty Task Force, with charities and food businesses uniting to put pressure on the government to ensure the UK's children are adequately fed.