Wayne Rooney believes Marcus Rashford could become the player who eventually breaks his Manchester United goalscoring record, but only if the forward gets his head down and commits fully to the club again.
Marcus Rashford returned to action for Manchester United on Saturday, coming off the bench during the 4-2 defeat to AC Milan. It was his first appearance for the club since December 2024 after spending the last 18 months on loan with Aston Villa and Barcelona.
The 28-year-old has scored 138 goals in 426 appearances for Manchester United. That still leaves him 115 goals behind Rooney’s record of 253.
Rooney still sees Rashford’s potential
Despite the gap, Wayne Rooney believes Rashford has the ability to close it.
“If he wants to be at the football club, he just has to knuckle down,” Rooney said as quoted by Bein Sports. “He’s the player that could go and get my goalscoring record!
“I don’t want to see Marcus Rashford doing well at Aston Villa or Barcelona. I want to see him doing well at Man United and scoring goals for Man United.
“But that means he has to get his head down and work his socks off. Be more positive. Play with a smile on his face.”
Rooney’s support comes with a warning, though. He believes Rashford needs to change more than just his performances if he is going to win United supporters back.
The former striker questioned whether Rashford still has the hunger required to succeed at Old Trafford.
“It’s such a strange one with Marcus. We know he’s got the ability; he’s shown that, but has he got the hunger? Does he want to play for Manchester United?” Rooney added.
Rooney wants Marcus Rashford to fix his body language
Rooney knows what it’s like to have a difficult relationship with United supporters. He pointed to his own experience in 2010, when he asked to leave before eventually staying.
“I’ve been there, in 2010, when I asked to leave the football club. Then I stayed. You have to rebuild the relationship with the fans and the easiest way to do that is work hard and work on your body language.”
That’s where Rooney has his biggest concern over Rashford.
The former United captain felt the forward’s body language wasn’t convincing enough during his cameo against Milan.
“You could have a bad game, you could give the ball away and make mistakes, but if the fans see you working hard and putting in a shift for the team, they’ll accept that.
“I think Marcus’ body language, even when he came on [against Milan]… it isn’t great. He might have to work with someone to make his body language look better.”
Manchester United begin their Premier League campaign away to newly promoted Hull City on Saturday. The question is whether Rashford can put everything else aside and show United fans that he wants to be at the club.
If he does, Rooney believes his own record could eventually be within reach.
