Jamie Redknapp has claimed that it would be "a crime" for Manchester United not to get the best out of Marcus Rashford after the forward reached a century of goals at the club.
Erik ten Hag's side won 1-0 against West Ham at Old Trafford on Sunday thanks to Rashford's 100th goal for the Reds. United made it eight games unbeaten in all competitions as they recorded their fifth clean sheet of the season in the Premier League.
Rashford, who turned 25 on Monday, scored in successive matches for the first time since January, as he got on the end of a superb Christian Eriksen cross to the back-post to head the ball past a helpless Lukasz Fabianski. It has not always been smooth sailing for the United forward however, as he revealed that the pressure of becoming the 22nd player to reach the milestone of a century goals was taking its toll.
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"It's been on my mind the last couple of games," Rashford told Sky Sports. "I've been waiting for it to come and thankfully it did.
"It's a completely different energy around the club and the training ground. That puts me in a better headspace and I just feel really motivated now. I was struggling at times with more mental things. It wasn't really my own performance but other things off the pitch. That's the biggest difference from last season. Too often last season, I wasn't in the right headspace for games. I wasn't surprised by some of the stuff that was happening."
Rashford's honesty was refreshing to Redknapp, who admitted that he was shocked to hear the goalscorer open up on his situation, while warning Ten Hag that United need to work out a way to get the best out of him going forward.
“‘I wasn’t mentally right’ – when do you really hear a player ever say that?” Redknapp said. “We expect them to be mentally right, ready for the game. He wasn’t in the right head space.
“If you look at his attributes, he possesses everything. He can jump, he can run with the ball, he’s got a ferocious shot, he can take free-kicks… if Manchester United can’t get the best out of this player, that’s a crime. I know you have to do it yourself, but you have to find ways of getting someone to produce that level. He has everything. He can play off either side.
“When I felt he might leave the club, he’d have gone somewhere else and thrived and been an absolute star. But now it looks like Man United can get that out of him.”
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