Manchester United have made some serious changes to their approach in recent years that should appease Marcus Rashford. However, there's one criticism made by the England forward where the club still has to prove it's paying attention to his past comments.
Pragmatic Transfer Strategy
Recent transfer windows at Old Trafford have seen United take on a more original, independent stance with their business. The United of years gone by was guilty of shoehorning household names into their system, even if they weren't natural fits, whereas INEOS has overseen more pragmatic investment over the past 18 months or so.
This summer's signings of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans are evidence of that working to a tee. Both transfers appeared out of the blue, with no serious competition reported for either player before it was confirmed United had deals in plans.
The same might be said for the recruitment of Senne Lammens, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, each of whom arrived last summer. In addition to marching more to the beat of their own drum in the transfer market, Michael Carrick's United also look more attuned with the academy to streamline that leap from youth to first-team football.
Rashford's Principles
"Show me a successful team that just adapts," Rashford told Gary Lineker and Micah Richards on The Rest is Football podcast last year. "When [Sir Alex Ferguson] was in charge, not only the principles for the first team, the whole academy set-up so you could pick players from 15 years and over; that’s a full generation. And they’d all understand the principles of playing the Man United way, right?
"You see it with any team that’s been successful over a period of time. They have principles that any coach that comes in, any player that comes in, has to align to these principles or be able to add to these principles."
"Whereas at times I feel like United have just been…we’re hungry to win, so we’ll always try to adapt and to sign players that fit this system. But it’s reactionary."
Carrick has been hard at work promoting numerous youth players in pre-season, with the likes of Shea Lacey, JJ Gabriel, Jack Fletcher and Jim Thwaites sticking out in particular. That points to one of Rashford's points in regards to letting the youngsters know what it means to "play the Man United way."
Managerial Stability
United have been guilty of quick turnover at the helm in recent years. However, there are hopes Carrick will be the man to establish some solidity at the helm for years to come, having cut his teeth as part of Ferguson's 27-year tenure in charge.
Carrick is the club's seventh permanent managerial appointment in the 13 years since Ferguson retired from his duties. His predecessor, Ruben Amorim, lasted a little more than one year before Carrick was handed his chance as interim boss at the start of 2026.
Another of Rashford's critiques last year was that he'd like to see a little more faith afford to the manager. And Carrick may well be hoping for the same as his forward, who has just returned from a fruitful loan at Barcelona, used Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp to illustrate his point.
"When Liverpool went through this, they got Klopp, they stuck with him," he continued. "They didn’t win in the beginning. People only remember his final few years when he was competing with [Manchester] City and winning the biggest trophies. He certainly didn’t win for three years.
"To start a transition, you have to make a plan and stick to it. So this is the thing that I feel...it’s not easy. But this is where I speak about being realistic with what your situation is. I feel like we’ve had that many different managers and different ideas and different strategies in order to win...you end up in no man’s land."
Ironically, Rashford may well have been glad to see Amorim shown the exit after he fell out with the Portuguese tactician. It was partly that friction between the pair that led to his departure, having initially joined Aston Villa on loan in January 2025.
The landscape has changed significantly under Carrick, a coach he knows well and at one point called his team-mate early on in his career. United have moved in the right direction by handing him the reins on a permanent basis but Rashford will only be vindicated in his point on loyalty to the boss when fans see how the club reacts when the pressure is ramped up.
