EXCLUSIVE: Marcus Rashford was the ‘victim as much as the cause’ during his struggles at Manchester United

Marcus Rashford was “the victim as much as the cause” during his struggles at Manchester United, according to Stan Collymore.

Rashford joined Aston Villa in January on an initial loan deal until the end of the season with the West Midlands club having the option to make the move permanent in the summer for £40million.

It ended an unhappy spell at Old Trafford for the England international, who had been frozen out under new boss Ruben Amorim.

Rashford came through the ranks at United, making 426 appearances and scoring 138 goals, but has faced criticism over the past 18 months for a perceived lack of enthusiasm.

Collymore is adamant, however, the 27-year-old should not shoulder too much of the blame.

Marcus Rashford’s all-action debut! 😅

Up next are Liverpool on Wednesday…

— Premier League (@premierleague)

Childhood fan turned superstar

The former Villa striker told 101 Great Goals, via William Hill Vegas: “You can be somewhere for too long. He’s been there [United] since he was a kid and it’s all he’s known.

“That’s coincided with a generational shift from Man Utd being top of the perch to being down with the dead men in the Premier League, that’s going to have an impact on you, whether you’re a part of the fault of that or not. 

“It’s not all been Marcus Rashford’s fault, there have been lot of poor players that have walked through the doors at Old Trafford and there have been several managers that haven’t been the right fit. He’s been the victim as much as the cause.”

Rashford made his second Villa appearance – and first in the Premier League – at the weekend, coming on at half-time to replace Jacob Ramsey against Ipswich, and made an immediate impact.

He looked dangerous down the left-hand side and played a pivotal role in the equaliser with a free-kick that came back off the woodwork, enabling Ollie Watkins to tap in the rebound.

No Premier League player created more big chances over the weekend than Marcus Rashford, despite the winger only playing for 45 minutes 🤝

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt)

Rashford is worth a punt – Collymore

It was the kind of cameo that Collymore believes shows Villa boss Unai Emery was right to take a chance on Rashford.

He added: “At a club like Villa where Unai Emery runs everything – most of the staff now have been brought in from Spain, people that Unai Emery knows – he is comfortable enough to be able to say I am going to take a punt and say it’s on me and make him a better player. 

“More often that not, managers that develop players, and you can put Emery in that bracket, they like the odd gamble, the odd risk, it’s a test of their ability to make somebody who’s down and [try to] polish the diamond. 

“He’s got 20 games to help put a smile on Marcus’ face. The Villa media team have been doing all they can to try to capture Marcus smiling at training, staying behind doing extra training to get the narrative out there that he’s working hard and that he wants to be a part of the club. 

“He will be judged on his output. I don’t care if he smiles or not or if he’s happy or not if he’s ruthless, if he uses the attributes that he’s got to be able to create chances, score goals and help Villa to get into the top seven positions [in the Premier League] and go further in the Champions League.”

Rashford may make his first start for Villa tomorrow night when the host Premier League leaders Liverpool.