Former Manchester United striker Michael Owen believes Marcus Rashford is at his best when deployed on the left side of the front-three.
The United academy graduate, who will have aspirations of representing England at the World Cup in Qatar next month, has operated both through the middle and out wide so far this season, generating plenty of debate about his best role. Reds manager Erik ten Hag, in a bid to find out more about his players, has recently tinkered with his front-three to find the best formula.
Rashford, who is out-of-contract at the end of the season, although the club have the option of an additional year, has looked at his best when playing on the left-wing, though he has shown flashes of his quality through the middle. But after stepping off the bench to score twice in the 3-2 Europa League win over Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus earlier this month, the 24-year-old, who played on the left that evening, admitted that he feels at his best when out wide.
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And that is an opinion shared by former England ace Owen, who has questioned whether or not Rashford has the expected number of goals within his locker to be a centre-forward at Old Trafford.
Owen, speaking to the Manchester Evening News, in partnership with aceodds.com, said: "It's a great debate, isn't it? And we've had it for a long, long time. I personally prefer Marcus Rashford on the left.
"I just think as a centre-forward at Manchester United you're probably expected to score [goals] in the twenties. You really do need to be one of the best five or six players in the world in your position to be playing there, if you're going to mirror the status of the club.
"I'm not sure whether Marcus Rashford will score that many goals and I'm not sure whether he is one of the top half dozen centre-forwards in the world. But I do think he's very effective coming off of the left side.
"So I personally think he's better coming off the left side and Manchester United are better off putting Cristiano Ronaldo down the middle or finding that next centre-forward to replace Ronaldo. There's a lot of pundits that I talk to that are split about this. But for me, I think he's better off the left."
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