Marcus Rashford already looked to be moving towards a transfer in 2025. Then he admitted as much publicly.

For much of the past 18 months since signing a massive £300,000-per-week contract at his boyhood club, Rashford has been the centre of unwanted scrutiny and attention. The arrival of Ruben Amorim looked to offer a fresh start.

Rashford, though, has gone from being the scorer of United's first goal under new management to the player now the most likely to depart in January. The speed at which things have escalated aren't a major surprise, either.

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Talk of Rashford being sold had started again even before he was dropped for Sunday's Manchester derby. Over the summer, under Erik ten Hag, it was rife once more as Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe made their sporting intentions for the club perfectly clear.

It has not just been transfer uncertainty that has left a cloud over Rashford for much of his time in recent years. Now nine years on as a senior player, it has been quite a ride. Here, MEN Sport takes a look at just a few of the biggest talking points along the way.

Fernandes stance

Bruno Fernandes, often one of the shining lights at United along with Rashford during their best times, made a bold and positive prediction in May, shortly before the FA Cup final. He claimed that Rashford would have "400 more [appearances] to come" after Rashford played his 400th game for the club.

In what currently stands at 426 games, Rashford has scored 138 times for United, assisting 63. 87 of those goals have come in the Premier League whilst he scored 17 in 60 for England before dropping out of the side recently.

Fernandes' comment came at the end of last season, one in which Rashford only managed eight goals, a far cry from the 30 he hit the year before. All parties had hoped that Rashford would be able to come good again but things haven't turned out that way since.

Ten Hag apology

After playing in a 3-0 defeat in 2023's Old Trafford Manchester derby Rashford was pictured in a nightclub just hours after. He subsequently apologised for the incident, explaining that it was a pre-arranged birthday celebration.

Ten Hag, at the time, said: “Yes I am aware of it, I spoke with him about it. It is unacceptable. I told them, he apologised and that is it. It is an internal matter.” The head coach added: “He is fitting in. He is very motivated to put things right. I know how much effort he is putting in. He makes a mistake but that doesn’t say he is not fitting in.

“He is totally with us. He makes one mistake but also off the pitch what he is doing, how he lives, I am sure he is doing everything right to help the team and to perform and let us win.”

Rashford also had to apologise after missing training in January 2024. Ahead of the FA Cup meeting with Newport, he was pictured in a Belfast club despite missing the session prior. He was left out of the team.

In December 2022 he arrived late for a team meeting and was dropped from the side before going on to score the winner against Wolves. Ten Hag regularly lamented the lack of positive culture at the club.

Escape route

Much of the above is without mentioning Rashford's struggles for consistency on the field. He has been criticised for not putting in enough effort or desire as well as suggestions that he is distracted and not committed to United.

It is Rashford's on-pitch troubles that have seen his stock drop so massively, and Jamie Carragher is among those who have been vocal in calling him out for it. "I feel I have been talking about Marcus Rashford for the last week and I have said before, he is not that good a player for the amount of time we talk about him," he told Sky Sports. "Wayne Rooney was, David Beckham was, Cristiano Ronaldo was.

"We had this situation a couple of years ago with Ronaldo when he came out and did an interview about Erik ten Hag. I am not for any player coming out and being critical of the club, you know my comments on Mo Salah, but for Rashford to do that, come out without the club having any knowledge and announce he has basically put in a transfer request or he wants to leave, that leaves the club in a really poor position in terms of negotiating his exit at some stage.

"If he really believes that he still wants to be a United player and he still wants a great career, you don’t come out with a statement like that. You keep your mouth shut, you battle and you hope you get a little chance."

It is for this reason that links to elite-level clubs are not yet emerging. Clubs in the Saudi Pro League have reportedly set aside a budget to make a mid-season offer for him, in one of very few concrete next club claims being made. With Premier League sides deemed an unlikely option at this stage, and doubts over the fit at Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain, the Middle East may be his only way out.