England beat Wales 3-0 and Latvia 4-0 during the international break, but they did so without using a single current Manchester United player in the squad.
Long gone are the times when the Red Devils had some of the country’s best players, like Wayne Rooney or Sir Bobby Charlton, as they currently find themselves in a difficult period.
Rooney is, of course, a club legend for United, because of the statistics in the graphic above, and is an England legend, having been the top scorer in the country’s history with 53 goals, before Harry Kane obliterated his record, currently sitting on 76 goals.
There was technically a Man United attacker on the pitch in both of England’s games during the break, though, as Marcus Rashford came off the bench against Wales and Latvia.
The left-winger, who is currently on loan at Barcelona, has been a favourite under Thomas Tuchel and is competing with Anthony Gordon for a starting berth at the World Cup next year.
There may still be many fans wondering where it all went wrong for Rashford at Old Trafford, because he is still good enough to be playing for Barcelona and England.
Why Marcus Rashford is not playing for Man United
Beyond the obvious reason that he is currently out on loan, Rashford is not playing for Manchester United because there was a breakdown in his relationship with Ruben Amorim.
At the time of his move to Barcelona in the summer, the BBC’s Simon Stone wrote that there was ‘no possibility of Ruben Amorim’s arm being placed round his shoulders’ to bring him back into the fold at Old Trafford.
That came a few months after a very telling quote from the Portuguese boss. Shortly after Rashford left United to sign for Aston Villa on loan in January, Amorim said: “What I say is I couldn’t put Marcus to see the way you’re supposed to play football and to train the way I see it.”
In December, prior to his first loan move away from the club, Sky Sports wrote that Amorim had been ‘unimpressed with Rashford’s application at the training ground and his general demeanour’.
Putting all of these pieces of information together, it appears as though Rashford and Amorim reached a point of no return, and it was not because of the forward’s quality.
Appearances
10
xG
1.81
Goals
3
Key passes
18
Big chances created
3
Assists
4
Completed dribbles
12
As you can see in the table above, the England international has delivered seven goal contributions in ten matches for Barcelona since his move to the Spanish giants in the summer.
Rashford, who scored a stunning goal against Newcastle United in the Champions League, has the quality to be a terrific performer off the left through or through the middle, as further evidenced by his 138-goal haul for United, per Transfermarkt.
However, his approach to training and matches, at times, clearly was not good enough for what Amorim wants from his players, hence why he has been sent on loan twice in 2025.
The Red Devils may now be wary that they have recruited another player in his position who has the potential to follow in his footsteps, in both a positive and negative sense.
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INEOS splashed out a fee of £62.5m to sign attacking midfielder Matheus Cunha from fellow Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers for Manchester United this summer.
Why Matheus Cunha may be the next Marcus Rashford
There is no doubt that the Brazil international is an incredibly talented attacker who has the potential to deliver some magical moments in front of the Old Trafford crowd.
Cunha scored 31 goals and provided 14 assists in all competitions, per Sofascore, in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns combined for Wolves, which shows that he has proven himself as both a scorer and a creator in English football.
The Brazilian star, who journalist Samuel Luckhurst claimed has a “maverick swagger” about him, scored 15 goals and created 13 ‘big chances’ for Wolves in the Premier League last season, per Sofascore.
However, like Rashford, Cunha’s temperament has been called into question at times. For example, in January when he seemingly failed to acknowledge supporters after a 3-1 loss to Chelsea.
Manager Vitor Pereira commented on the situation, saying: “I don’t like this body language. I want someone, as a captain, trying to help the team – running, suffering and fighting all together. But this is something I can understand. Next time, I won’t understand.”
Pundit Clinton Morrison also claimed that “lack of professionalism” led to him missing six matches through suspension last season, one for an incident involving an Ipswich member of staff and another for one with Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez.
There has been nothing to suggest that his attitude, professionalism, or application has been an issue for him at Manchester United so far, but his form on the pitch has been a concern.
Appearances
6
Starts
4
xG
1.31
Goals
0
Key passes per game
0.7
Big chances created
0
Assists
0
As you can see in the table above, Cunha has failed to deliver in the Premier League for the Red Devils so far this season, with no goals, no ‘big chances’ created, and no assists in six appearances.
His record for Wolves suggests that goals and assists will eventually flow for the Brazil international, but the concern may be that he could follow in Rashford’s footsteps if his performances do not improve.
The England international eventually moved on from Old Trafford, albeit on loan, after a return of just 11 goals in his last 48 Premier League matches for the club, per Transfermarkt, as his performances on the pitch did not make up for his application issues.
INEOS and Amorim will hope that the question marks over Cunha’s professionalism and application from his time at Wolves do not follow over to his time in Manchester if his performances in front of goal do not improve in the coming weeks.
Cunha can look to Rashford, potentially, as an example of what not to do and, hopefully, knuckle down and improve his form without any of the baggage that the English forward brought with him under Amorim.