Carrick confirms Man Utd's Rashford plan as transfer reality becomes clear

Michael Carrick insists Marcus Rashford still has plenty to offer Manchester United this season with it now looking increasingly likely he will stay at Old Trafford.

The England international hasn't played for his boyhood club since December 2024, when he was frozen out by former manager Ruben Amorim. Since then, he has had loan spells with Aston Villa and then spent last season with Barcelona.

It was expected that he would secure a permanent move to the Camp Nou, but their decision to sign Anthony Gordon meant they opted against triggering his £26million clause.

He now returns to United, where he could make his return, ironically, against Amorim's AC Milan this weekend. The Manchester Evening News report both sides believe it is most likely he will remain at his parent club and Carrick is confident he will be a positive presence in his squad.

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"He's a very good player, and I think if you're going to have a career over 10 or 15 years, there's going to be times when things go in a direction and maybe a different direction," he said.

"I think there are ups and downs, and that doesn't judge you as a one-off kind of judgment. It's what happens over time, and now we're in a positive place as a group, and Marcus can offer us so much. He has done, and he can do again, so in that respect, it's quite exciting."

Had Amorim stayed in charge, it is inconceivable that the burnt bridges would have been able to be mended, but Carrick has a history with Rashford and has helped to smooth the process.

And while Carrick stopped short of definitively confirming he will stay at United, he described him as 'our player' and said he is being treated the same as anyone else within his squad.

"He's our player, he came back Sunday night, he arrived with Kobbie [Mainoo], and Lisandro [Martinez] came the day after, and he's part of the group like anybody else. He came in, he's trained really well.

"I've known him a long time, like I've known some of the others a long time, so I don't treat him any different to anybody else, but it's been good to have him around the group again this week. So I'm really positive with that."

Carrick added that he was confident the returning Rashford would bring something new to his options and help balance the squad for the upcoming Premier League campaign.

He added: "We're really calm, we just treat it like anybody else coming into the group and there's obviously this slight twist that he knows the club as well as anybody and that's a real positive.

"He's been here all his career, all his life before the last 18 months or so, to understand what it means. That side of things is natural, that's a given. I know he's got history, but I've got history with a number of the players as well, so that doesn't make that a unique situation at all and treat him as exactly like any other player.

"Bringing him into the group and carrying on as normal brings the good things that we haven't got, and we want to get that balance with every individual player, and Marcus has come back and he's in good form, and it's been good to have him around this week."

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