Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha has insisted that Marcus Rashford is not yet a world-class striker while admitting that the England international is a world-class forward.
Louis Saha who played for Manchester United between 2004 and 2008 under the legendary coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, claimed that United’s 23-year-old left-winger can create opportunities for himself and for his teammates to score but he is yet to have that hunger of a striker.
Marcus Rashford is used mostly as a left-winger at Manchester United and England national team. He can also function from the right-wing or as a center-forward, depending on the game plan of the coach.
So far in the 2020-2021 season, the English football star has scored two goals and provided two assists in 6 Premier League games as a left-winger. He has also scored a league goal and provided three assists in 4 league games.
Since Marcus Rashford gained promotion from Manchester United’s academy to the club’s senior team on January 1, 2016, the 23-year-old left-winger has recorded a total of 77 goals and has provided 45 assists in 232 games for Manchester United.
He has also been a regular feature for England national team since he broke into the team on May 27, 2016. So far, he has scored 11 goals in 39 international caps.
Yet, the 42-year-old retired French striker who won two Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League title before he left Manchester United for Everton in 2008, insisted that Marcus Rashford is not deadly enough to be called a world-class striker yet.
“Marcus Rashford is a world-class forward but he isn’t yet a world-class striker,” Louis Saha told Genting Bet. “When you look around the world, there aren’t many players playing for big clubs such as Manchester United and perform on a big stage with his country.
“But Rashford can do whatever you want from him, he can defend when you need to and he can attack and create his own goals, score free kicks. He’s a top forward.
“A striker is a different animal, a striker is someone eager and you can see in his face that they want to score all the time and will focus on how to maximize the position where he can score. They won’t try to find that kind of ‘nice look’, a striker is just deadly.
“This is what I learned from playing with the likes of Van Nistelrooy and David Trezeguet. At this moment, Marcus Rashford isn’t a world-class striker, but he’s a world-class forward.
“Rashford still has the youth and the potential to do it – as Cristiano started in a certain position and now is the best striker you can ever imagine. Being a striker is an attitude and they obsess about scoring goals, they’re going to shout at any player that doesn’t give them the ball and you shout to yourself because you miss a goal.”
While on Marcus Rashford’s strike partner, Anthony Martial, Louis Saha, believes that the French striker has been giving his best for the club but more is still expected from him.
“Anthony Martial has reached a level of skill and I didn’t see it coming,” Saha added. “He’s gifted in many areas and being a striker is one but it’s about consistency – you have to score and you have to have that desire to score all the time.
“You’ll have moments where you don’t do it but it doesn’t matter because you’re still making the same runs. I think that he has definitely shown quality but obviously, we always want more from a player like him.”
Louis Saha scored about 28 goals in 86 appearances in all competitions for Manchester United before he left the club. He scored over 117 career goals in 385 games before he retired from professional football in 2013.
