Former Chelsea centre-back William Gallas has urged the Blues to launch a summer bid for Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford.
The academy graduate burst onto the scene in 2016 and hopes were high that he would go on to become a superstar for Manchester United, but his career since then has been rather up and down, and he has recently found himself out of Erik ten Hag’s starting line-up.
That has led former United teammate Wayne Rooney to call on Rashford to consider whether he is best served staying at Old Trafford or whether a change of scenery might help him to reach his full potential. Gallas evidently concurs with that analysis – and he believes that a move to Chelsea, in particular, would be a boost both for the players and for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
William Gallas implores Chelsea to sign Marcus Rashford from Manchester United
However, Gallas does hazard that a change of manager could end up being just as good for Rashford as a summer transfer away from the club he has been at since he was seven years old.
Gallas told Genting Casino: “There will always be quality players who are interested in signing for Chelsea, but we have to ask if Rashford would want to leave Man United.
“Nobody knows the reason, maybe he has a problem with Erik ten Hag - if he leaves then Rashford could stay. A player like Rashford, we want to see the exciting young player who broke through on fire, running everywhere and scoring beautiful goals.
“He had a lot of commitment then as well, now he is not the same player. Maybe injuries have been a problem and another club for a fresh start could be the right option and Chelsea would provide this for him.”
Manchester United and Chelsea are no strangers to doing transfer business with one another over the past ten years – though the flow has been all the other way so far.
Juan Mata made the switch up the M6 in 2014, with Nemanja Matic following in 2017 and Mason Mount making another big-money move away from Stamford Bridge last summer. Chelsea are enjoying a late-season revival under Pochettino, rising from mid-table to sixth place over the past few weeks – their highest league position of the campaign.
They could yet overtake Tottenham Hotspur to finish fifth on the final day, though they would need to beat Bournemouth and hope Spurs fell to an unlikely defeat away to dreadful bottom side Sheffield United.
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