Can Marcus Rashford become Man Utd's all-time leading goalscorer?
A fresh-faced Marcus Rashford was handed his Manchester United debut by Louis van Gaal when he was just 18 years of age, and he celebrated the occasion with a brace in the convincing 5-1 win over FC Midtjylland.
Over 300 appearances later, Rashford is now recognised as one of the club's greatest academy graduates, and became just the 13th player in the club's history to reach 100 goals after scoring against West Ham United in October 2022.
With so many years left ahead of him, could Rashford go on to break more scoring records at Old Trafford?
Can Marcus Rashford become Man Utd's all-time leading goalscorer?
How many Man Utd goals has Marcus Rashford scored?
Rashford scored his 100th Man Utd goal just a day before his 25th birthday against West Ham.
The Englishman's emphatic header over Thilo Kehrer was his 63rd in the Premier League and seventh of the season in all competitions. The electric forward is slowly rediscovering his best form under Ten Hag.
While the vast majority of his 100 goals have arrived in the league, Rashford also boasts a pretty impressive European record. The England international has scored 12 times in the Champions League, and ten in the Europa League.
Rashford has also netted on seven occasions in the FA Cup and eight in the EFL Cup.
When was Marcus Rashford’s first Man Utd goal?
Every Manchester United fan remembers the Thursday night in February 2016 when Rashford burst onto the scene like a young Micah Richards.
After embarrassingly finishing third in a rather tame Champions League group, Louis van Gaal's "army" - as the Dutchman once chanted - dropped down into the Europa League where they found themselves in a bit of bother heading into the second leg of their round of 32 tie against European behemoths Midtjylland.
United, after losing the first leg 2-1, were level at half-time in the reverse fixture before 18-year-old Rashford struck twice to swing the tie in the Red Devils' favour. Both were clinical finishes in the box as the hosts ran out 5-1 victors to progress into the round of 16 - where they were beaten by eventual finalists Liverpool.
Rashford's first goal meant he became United's youngest-ever goalscorer in Europe, breaking George Best's 51-year record.
Unsurprisingly, Van Gaal handed the blossoming teenager his Premier League debut against title-challengers Arsenal three days later on 28 February. Within four first-half minutes, Rashford registered another brace as United dented the Gunners' title aspirations with a 3-2 victory.
Who is Man Utd’s all-time leading goalscorer?
Superstardom was inevitable for Wayne Rooney after he made the £27m switch from Everton to Manchester United in 2004.
The 18-year-old arrived at Old Trafford off the back of a fantastic (individual) Euro 2004 campaign with England and he'd open his career at the Theatre of Dreams with an unforgettable hat-trick against Fenerbahce in the Champions League.
Those three strikes were the first in Rooney's record-breaking haul at the club. By the time he left Manchester in 2017, Rooney had sauntered beyond Denis Law's all-time scoring record and would finish with 253 goals.
The Englishman enjoyed an all-conquering 13-year spell at Man Utd during which he lifted five Premier League titles. He also helped the Red Devils to Champions League glory in 2008, as well as FA Cup (2016), Europa League (2017) and EFL Cup (2017) triumphs. On an individual level, Rooney was a one-time PFA Player of the Year (2009/10), twice named the PFA Young Player of the Year, and included in the PFA Team of the Year on three occasions.
Rooney developed telepathic relationships with some of the modern-day greats - none more so than Cristiano Ronaldo - and the 2007/08 United side which those two spearheaded along with Carlos Tevez is widely regarded as one of the best Premier League teams ever.
Can Marcus Rashford catch Wayne Rooney?
Rashford is currently 153 goals adrift of Rooney's record. It took the 25-year-old 318 games to reach the 100 goal mark, while Rooney reached his record-breaking haul in 559 appearances.
Time is certainly on Rashford's side, but breaching Rooney's record is an almighty task considering his current scoring rate. The latter's rate did dip towards the back end of his career as he evolved into a playmaker, but his scoring ratio was still pretty impressive at just over 0.45 goals per game.
Rashford's is significantly below that and he's currently on course to score less than 200 goals if he matches Rooney's 559 appearances.
Thus, while Rashford could spend the next five or possibly even ten years at Old Trafford, he'd need to considerably increase his prolificacy in front of goal to even come within touching distance of Rooney's record.