Harry Maguire backs Marcus Rashford to reignite Manchester United's season
Harry Maguire has seen the other side of Manchester United. The jeers, the doubts, the feeling that the club you grew up dreaming about might be about to move on without you.
So when he talks about Marcus Rashford, there’s a weight to it.
The defender believes the 26-year-old forward is ready to play a major role at Old Trafford again after reclaiming a Premier League starting place for the first time in 21 months in United’s 5-2 win over Ipswich.
Rashford didn’t just reappear. He attacked the game. He stretched Ipswich, drove at defenders, and looked like a player intent on forcing the door back open at his boyhood club.
“He's a great talent,” Maguire said. “He's always a threat. If Marcus wants to be here, wants to work, wants to improve and help the team, of course we're willing to have him in the team.
“He could still do a lot more and I think he'll say he can do more but if we keep him fit, we keep him happy, he keeps driven and hungry, he's a great asset to have.”
A career on pause, then suddenly back in play.
From the brink to a second chance
Not long ago, Rashford’s United future looked close to finished. A breakdown in his relationship with former manager Ruben Amorim pushed him to the fringes, and the club sent him on loan first to Aston Villa, then to Barcelona.
Barça had the option to make it permanent for £26m. They walked away. That decision now feels pivotal.
With the transfer window closing on Tuesday night, all signs point to Rashford staying at Old Trafford. No late twist, no deadline-day exit. A player once considered expendable suddenly looks central to the season ahead.
The time away changed him. Working under Unai Emery at Villa and Hansi Flick in Barcelona sharpened his game and, crucially, his mentality. Both are demanding coaches. Both ask questions of players without the safety net of sentiment.
Back in Manchester, he finds another familiar figure in charge. Michael Carrick knows Rashford, knows the club, knows the noise that surrounds both.
That matters. Especially for a player who has been scrutinised as intensely as any in the Premier League.
“Everyone piles on you”
The criticism around Rashford has been relentless. Not just about goals and assists, but about effort, body language, even whether he still enjoys football.
Maguire understands that better than most.
“You've got to remember Marcus has had a wonderful career for this club,” he said. “But when you play at this club for numerous years, there's going to be bad seasons, and when the bad seasons come everyone piles on you. That's part and parcel of playing for this club.
“As a club, we haven't been perfect from top to bottom. We haven't been challenging at the top end. So, Marcus has been part of a rough ride for Manchester United.
“When that happens, players get dug out. I've been through it.”
Those words land with an edge. Maguire himself looked destined to leave after losing his place and the captaincy under Erik ten Hag. He stayed, fought his way back, and now speaks with the authority of someone who has worn the scars.
On Rashford, he is unequivocal: “He's come back in, really fit and sharp and we're excited to have him.”
Carrick has already described Rashford as “like a new signing”. It’s a cliché usually reserved for returning players in pre-season. This feels different. This is about a reset in a career that had drifted dangerously.
Mainoo steps forward
Rashford wasn’t the only United player to reclaim a starting berth against Ipswich.
Kobbie Mainoo, another talent initially marginalised under Amorim, started his first game of the season and grew into it after United fell behind. The midfielder, still so early in his career, has had his own setback to process after England boss Thomas Tuchel overlooked him at the World Cup.
Maguire liked what he saw.
“I thought he was brilliant,” he said. “To say he hasn't had many minutes in pre-season, he was magnificent.
“His work without the ball has improved so much since Michael's been in. He's becoming a real monster in there, wins a lot of second balls and a lot of duels.”
The praise didn’t stop there.
“The thing is he's so young. If we want him to play for this club for another 10 years, there's going to be times where he's going to go through a patch like I spoke about with Rashy and myself.
“But that's part and parcel. He's really level-headed, really composed and has great belief in his ability.
“He's going to be a magnificent player for this club for many years.”
United’s midfield has cried out for that kind of presence: someone who can snap into duels, mop up loose balls, then play with composure. Mainoo isn’t the finished article, but Carrick has already rejuvenated him once. Now the task is to build him back up again after that international disappointment.
A dressing room hardened by criticism
What emerges from Maguire’s words is a dressing room shaped by adversity. Rashford, Maguire, Mainoo – different ages, different roles, but the same reality. When United struggle, the spotlight burns.
Maguire doesn’t shy away from that. He frames it as the cost of playing for one of the world’s most scrutinised clubs. You endure it, or you don’t last.
For Rashford, this season feels like a line in the sand. No more talk of body language. No more debates about desire. The conversation now turns to output, consistency, and whether he can again become the forward defences fear.
He has his manager’s trust. He has senior teammates backing him. He has a starting place again.
The window is closing. The noise will follow. What Rashford does next will define how long this second act at Old Trafford truly lasts.
