Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has put his return to form this season down to being able to mentally switch off and recharge during the summer after an intense few years.
Rashford endured a disappointing 2021/22 campaign after missing the start of the season to recover from surgery on a longstanding shoulder problem. Even though he returned to play 32 games in all competitions, it was his lowest ever career goal tally when he only scored five times.
Already this season, Rashford has bettered his goal record from the whole of last term and was named Premier League Player of the Month for September.
Until the summer of 2022, the homegrown star hadn’t had any proper time off from football since 2019 after Covid-19 forced the 2019/20 season to run long and Euro 2020 took place in 2021.
“It was time away from everything,” Rashford explained to ManUtd.com.
“I think physically I needed a rest, and I’ve probably needed a rest for a while, but mentally, just to have two weeks or whatever it was to just switch off – it’s something that I probably don’t do enough. Because we’re obviously really busy and there’s always something to look forward to, and something to work towards,” he added.
“I didn’t know I needed it. But when I’ve had it, when I’ve come back, and even towards the back end of [the] holidays, I just felt in a different headspace, to be honest.”
Listen now to 90min’s Manchester United podcast, The Promised Land, with Scott Saunders & Rob Blanchette. In the latest episode they discuss the weekend defeat to Aston Villa, where Cristiano Ronaldo & Donny van de Beek should play, plus look ahead to January.
Credit: 90min.com
