_ Painting Marcus Rashford as an innocent victim misses the point, he can't be exempt from criticism at Man United, writes CHRIS WHEELER

It's a bitter irony that a week in which Manchester United celebrated their 250th homegrown player making his first-team debut is ending with the poster boy for the club’s academy fighting back against his critics.

For teenager Ethan Wheatley, this is a week he will never forget. And Marcus Rashford? Well, let’s just say it has been another low in the rollercoaster career of one of United’s most gifted but infuriatingly erratic stars.

As Wheatley came on as a late substitute in the win over Sheffield United in midweek, Rashford was nursing a leg injury sustained in the FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City last weekend.

The 26-year-old was booed off by a minority of his own fans at Wembley. There were even some wholly unsubstantiated suggestions on social media that he was feigning injury.

By Thursday night, Rashford decided to hit back.

‘I appreciate your support!’ he tweeted in response to a sympathetic message describing his treatment as ‘disgusting’ and ‘cruel’.

‘It is abuse and has been for months,’ added Rashford. ‘Enough is enough.’

Fifteen words, posted half an hour after midnight, that say much about his situation at the moment.

It isn’t the first time Rashford has had to defend himself this season. In February, he wrote a first-person piece for The Players’ Tribune.

‘I can take any criticism,’ wrote Rashford. ‘But if you start questioning my commitment to this club and my love for football and bringing my family into it, then I’d simply ask you to have a bit more humanity.’

His mother Melanie Maynard even penned a piece for The Times explaining that he had lost two people close to him over the last 18 months, his cousin Nathan and a family friend called Garf.

‘Marcus is human, so he will have ups and downs in his life like everyone else,’ she wrote.

Safe to say, none of it will cut much ice with his critics.

Rashford suggested that some of the ill-feeling was rooted in the pandemic and his crusade to fight child food poverty which earned him an MBE. The backlash against his now infamous tequila bender in Belfast came from people waiting for him to have ‘a human moment’, he claimed.

Sadly, there will always be a moronic element hiding under a rock; the kind of people who racially abused Rashford and his England teammates Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho after they missed penalties in the shootout to decide the final of Euro 2020.

Rashford is a young man who has risen from a poor upbringing in Wythenshawe to earn a basic £315,000-a-week – more than £350,000 if he and the team hit their bonus targets – build a multi-million pound house with its own golf course, and own a fleet of luxury cars.

His mother and two brothers, Dwaine Maynard and Dane Rashford, who also represent him, are well provided for. Envy festers easily among the idiots.

But to paint Rashford as innocent victim here perhaps misses the point. As a world-famous footballer playing for one of the biggest clubs on the planet, he should not be exempt from criticism and, goodness knows, he has given the snipers plenty of ammunition.

The jaw-dropping new contract last summer came on the back of a 30-goal season for United. This term, he has scored just eight with six games to go, starting with Saturday's meeting with Burnley at Old Trafford which he is likely to miss.

From his preferred position on the left wing, he has contributed a further five assists. These are not stats that will send the Opta computer system into meltdown.

Three goals in a row in March against Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool suggested that he was hitting a rich vein of form. However, Rashford has fired blanks in his next five games, starting two of them on the bench. There are no guarantees he will be in the England squad for Euro 2024.

When some forwards aren’t scoring, they make up for it with an abundance of effort. Teammate Rasmus Hojlund is a good example of this.

There are times, though, when it feels like Rashford couldn’t do a better impersonation of someone who didn’t care less if he tried. Those times when he comes across as the polar opposite of the young man he wrote about in The Players’ Tribune, living out his dream for his boyhood club and challenging anyone to question his commitment.

Those close to Rashford say he is an individual who wears his heart on his sleeve and struggles to hide his emotions. Shy by nature, he can come across as sulky and sullen.

But manager Erik ten Hag and United supporters expect their players to put in a shift. To press and chase. There are too many clips of Rashford making half-hearted attempts to pressure opponents or track back to simply dismiss it as unfair criticism.

Your mind goes back to the FA Cup tie against Aston Villa in January 2022 when Rashford was booed by his own fans at Old Trafford for not making the effort to chase a loose ball. That was a nadir in his United career and it feels like we have reached another low point now.

There have been rumblings of discontent towards him in games against Brentford, City and Chelsea this season, and they surfaced again at Wembley last weekend.

It has raised the almost unthinkable question: would United consider selling Rashford this summer?

With 100 per cent of the profit from trading homegrown players going towards complying with financial fair play regulations, it would have to be an option – particularly with new co-owners Ineos committed to a fierce economy drive that could see a number of other big earners leave at the end of the season.

Paris-Saint Germain, who held talks with Rashford’s representatives two years ago, are one of few clubs who could realistically meet Rashford’s £75million valuation and match his personal terms as they seek to replace Kylian Mbappe.

United continue to believe in Rashford and want him to succeed at Old Trafford after investing so heavily in him with the new contract. But there is also a recognition that something needs to change and it must be a two-way process.

Ten Hag has backed the player, even though his drop in form is one of several factors that have undermined the Dutchman’s second season, but the feeling is that Rashford needs to show a desire to stay at United and fight for his future.

Some fans would not be sorry to see the back of him. But in a summer of significant churn, when Anthony Martial could feasibly be followed out of the club by Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood, ideally United don’t really want to be having to find another new forward.

If Rashford’s impact on the pitch has dwindled, then what about his reputation off it?

The wholesome homegrown hero who campaigned against child food poverty and seemed set for life with his childhood sweetheart, is more likely to make the news these days for the wrong reasons.

There was the ill-judged 26th birthday celebration at China White nightspot in October, just hours after United were well beaten by City in the Old Trafford derby. 

A month earlier, his £700,000 Rolls Royce was written off in a crash close to the training ground. This year, he has been pictured peeling parking tickets off his McLaren sports car and Lamborghini Urus after leaving them on double yellow lines.

Not the worst sins in the world. But at times it has felt like Rashford is turning into the brash football star we hoped he wasn’t.

Perhaps a more accurate image is painted by Sarah Adair, the waitress who accompanied him on his bar crawl around Belfast in January which ended with him missing training and being disciplined by Ten Hag.

On the one hand, we had the superstar flying in by private jet with his entourage – ‘his friends treated him like he was a god’ – dripping in designer jewellery including two diamond encrusted watches, getting so drunk that he was incapable of doing the job for which he is so richly rewarded, and then fibbing to his club about the night out.

On the other, Miss Adair perceived something in Rashford that maybe others don’t. ‘Marcus was confident but also seemed a bit shy. It’s as though he doesn’t really know who he is,’ she observed.

United have harboured concerns over Rashford’s lifestyle for some time, and his mother wrote ominously about people around him being ‘wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing’.

It was always felt that his girlfriend Lucia Loi was a steadying influence, even during the times they weren’t together, before they split up for good. Rashford has changed PR representatives twice since then, but positive spin will only get you so far.

He needs to get back to what he does best, the one thing he has always loved more than anything else.

Rashford was Wheatley once: the teenager bursting onto the scene in February 2016 with four goals in his first two games against Midtjylland and Arsenal. Eight years on, he should be in the prime of his life and at the peak of his career.

As he reaches what feels like another crossroads, we are still hoping that Rashford will turn into the player – and person – we always believed he would.

(Fluierul)