Many Manchester United supporters and critics have pondered whether Marcus Rashford would benefit from a change of scenery.

The debate was sparked again on Sunday when Ruben Amorim made the brave decision to leave Rashford out of the squad to face Manchester City. The gamble would pay off as Amad wrote his name into United folklore with a breathtaking individual performance.

Amorim played down the decision as best he could but the wheels were already in motion. By Tuesday, Rashford had spoken to journalist Henry Winter and insisted that a fresh challenge was on his agenda for 2025 and beyond.

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While it had previously been suggested by many, to actually see Rashford declare his interest in leaving was a shock. As for many players who make it with their boyhood clubs, the concern is whether leaving said team will make or break them.

However, Rashford only has to look at one of his fellow Carrington graduates to see that the risk can pay off. Scott McTominay left United in the summer after it became clear that previous boss Erik ten Hag needed funds to bring Manuel Ugarte to Old Trafford.

Despite the Scot's exit being good news for United's transfer budget, it was a mutual decision. "It's not easy for clubs to make a decision in regards to homegrown players, but that was never in my thought process," McTominay recently told BBC Sport.

"My thought process was coming here [Napoli], seeing the fans, the coach [Antonio Conte] and hopefully doing really good things. I spoke to him [Ten Hag]. He expressed his thoughts on the situation.

"I said: 'Listen it's my career, I am here to push myself on.' In this situation, I have to look out for number one and go with my gut feeling of what I want to do in my career and not be held back by any other external factors."

McTominay has not floundered outside of the comfort blanket that is United; instead, he has flourished. The 28-year-old has become integral to Napoli's squad and now finds himself in the midst of a title race.

It would be ludicrous to think that Rashford has not watched his former teammate moving from strength to strength and thought he would want a bit of that himself. The 27-year-old has stagnated at United and McTominay has trailblazed the path for him to rejuvenate his career.

When he leaves is now down to the club but without McTominay making the move first, you have to wonder if Rashford would have had the courage to follow suit.