IT was Jose Mourinho who best summed up how a footballer’s career can be here and gone in a flash.
Former Manchester United manager Mourinho said: “I am 56 now and yesterday, I was 20. Time flies. One day, you will regret if you don’t reach what you can reach.”
Mourinho was talking to Dele Alli in a documentary series while he was manager at Tottenham.
It could be a conversation Ruben Amorim has with 27-year-old Marcus Rashford now he is Old Trafford boss.
We all know what Rashford can do.
He burst on the scene aged 18 in 2016 with a Europa League double — his first United goals — on his debut against Midtjylland.
And we saw it two seasons ago, when he posted a career-best of 30 goals as United finished third and won the Carabao Cup.
The kid who grew up in Wythenshawe with the dream of playing for the Red Devils was in the spotlight.
But the floodlights have faded.
In the last 18 months, he has lost his place in the England squad, the United team and hit more headlines for what he did off the field than on it.
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Partying after a defeat in the Manchester derby, out until the early hours in Belfast when he was due to train later that day.
Just recently as he prepared for life under new boss Amorim, he took the time off given for the international break to jet to New York.
He was court-side for the NBA match between New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, dressed in a long Louis Vuitton coat and sporting glitzy grillz.
Fine if you are on top of your game… not such a good look when you cannot find it.
And Rashford has not been able to find it for some time.
There were nine cry-offs from the last England squad for their final two matches under Lee Carsley and still he was not worth a call.
Which tells you where he is at.
Amorim employed Rashford up front for his first game in charge against Ipswich, on Sunday, mainly because Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee are so bad.
Inside two minutes he took advantage of some great work by Amad Diallo to put United into the lead and then…he faded.
Red Devils fans have started cheering when he gets subbed now.
Previous boss Erik ten Hag was at his wits’ end with Rashford by the final days of his reign.
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The Dutchman privately admitted he would have dumped him into the reserves after that Belfast party incident in January had he had enough players available to take his place.
Ten Hag did everything to protect Rashford and help him but was let down by the player.
Everyone knows there is a good guy there.
Rashford’s MBE for charitable work, helping the poor and hungry, tells you all you need to know about a man with a good heart.
And his tears when United won the FA Cup last season told you how much he loves the club.
But he has been too easily swallowed up by the celebrity and party lifestyle on offer to all young stars if they want it.
Amorim emphasised ahead of Thursday’s Europa League match against Bodo/Glimt — who, with 6,500 fans at Old Trafford, will have one-eighth of the Norwegian city’s population in attendance — that the drive to get back to his best has to come from Rashford first.
It was the same mantra that came from Ten Hag.
Amorim knows playing through the middle is not his best position and will employ him wide, in the long run, in a 3-4-3.
Amorim needs A LOT of time on training pitch to fix Man Utd… unfortunately he won’t get it, writes Charlie Wyett
IN theory at least, the only way is up for Manchester United, writes Charlie Wyett.
We are nearly a third of the way through this Premier League season and it is still staggering to see United lurking in 12th place.
They have managed just four wins with a goal difference of 0. Only Everton, Crystal Palace and Southampton have scored less.
It is certainly not a false position and a point at Ipswich illustrated the massive job that Ruben Amorim faces.
United’s fans sang the name of their new manager throughout the game.
They also gave the players rapturous applause on the final whistle and although this was an improvement on some of the performances this season, the bar has been set pretty low.
The club’s optimistic supporters will see that their team is only six points off the top four. Ultimately, though, it is difficult to see United even reaching last season’s final position of eighth as they look worse.
United’s patched-up defence will improve – and a three-man formation at the back will help them – but you have to wonder where the goals are going to come from. Marcus Rashford struck after 81 seconds and then went missing for the rest of his 68 minutes on the pitch.
Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee were also introduced in that double change midway inside the second half but added absolutely nothing. What a terrible couple of signings they have proved to be and United’s fans would swap both of them for Ipswich’s Liam Delap.
Amorim did not celebrate the Rashford goal and paced around his technical area throughout looking uneasy.
Each time there was a break in play, he called over players for instructions.
Alejandro Garnacho headed over to the touchline on a couple of occasions while there were also words for Diogo Dalot, Casemiro and Jonny Evans.
Amorim, a manager with infectious enthusiasm, will be hopeful he can get his message across to all of the players in the next few weeks.
But the problem for the Portuguese coach is that this was the first of 10 games in the space of 33 days.
What he really needs are spells on the training ground without a midweek game but he does not have that luxury.
The only problem is the shortage of alternatives.
United’s lack of goals has been a problem for some time and just three teams have scored fewer than their 13 goals in the Prem this season.
Rashford is top scorer with five in all competitions. Hojlund has two and Zirkzee one.
Amorim said: “There is a concern but we have to improve as a team. We have quality players who can score so many goals.
“But you could feel it in the second half on Sunday, we controlled possession of the ball but we were not dangerous.
“Maybe because we spend the week trying to work on build up and then the rest was not working.
“We will try to improve as a team and Rasmus and Josh and Rash will score more goals.
“Even Bruno Fernandes has to score more goals! Amad has to be better near the goal.”
Rashford has to improve and quickly.
Because today he might be 27 but tomorrow he could be 56.
Ruben Amorim is ‘Mourinho 2.0’ who turned Sporting from ‘walking dead’ into Portuguese champs… he can revive Man Utd
WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.
Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.
But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.
Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.
He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers.
The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.
And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.
Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.
Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.
United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”
And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.
For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.
