There's no escaping it: the 20223/24 season has been a disappointing one for Manchester United.
The club have gone from a strong third-place finish and a domestic trophy to finishing just outside the top four, although the win over Liverpool still gives them a chance to win the FA Cup.
Several of the club's stars, such as Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, and Christian Eriksen, have underperformed this year, but Marcus Rashford's drop in form has been the most severe.
The Englishman has looked like a different player compared to last year and is currently being outscored by a former United flop playing outside the country.
Marcus Rashford's performance this season
The 2022/23 campaign was Rashford's best in quite some time, if not his best ever. The Manchester-born ace was one of Europe's most deadly forwards and even looked brilliant for England at the World Cup.
2015/16
18
8
2
0.55
2016/17
53
11
7
0.33
2017/18
52
13
9
0.42
2018/19
47
13
10
0.48
2019/20
44
22
12
0.77
2020/21
57
21
15
0.63
2021/22
32
5
2
0.21
2022/23
56
30
11
0.73
2023/24
35
8
6
0.40
In all, the right-footed dynamo scored 30 goals, provided 11 assists for the Red Devils in just 56 appearances, and finished the Premier League season as the sixth-highest scorer.
He turned doubters into believers and even wound up in several Team of the Season lists come the summer, which left fans expecting a similar campaign from him this year.
Unfortunately, in his 35 games for Erik ten Hag's side so far, he has scored just eight goals and provided six assists, which is quite a dropoff in form.
He has looked better since Christmas Day, with six of his goals and two assists coming in those 12 games, but the local lad still looks miles off the form he showed last year, and as things stand, he's being outscored by a former United flop.
Wilfried Zaha's season in numbers
The former United man in question is tricky winger Wilfried Zaha, who played just four first-team games during his two-year stint.
Appearances
13
4
458
37
Goals
0
0
90
10
Assists
1
0
76
5
Goal Involvements per Match
0.07
0.00
0.36
0.40
The Ivorian wideman had the unfortunate timing of signing for the club just a few months before Sir Alex Ferguson left, and while there might have been some mitigating factors around why David Moyes didn't give him a chance, it was a move that just didn't work out.
Zaha moved back to Crystal Palace in February 2015 in a deal worth a tiny £3m. He subsequently established himself as one of the most entertaining players in the Premier League over the next eight and a half years before leaving the South Londoners with 90 goals and 76 assists to his name in 458 appearances for them.
The "unplayable" ace, as former professional James Collins dubbed him, opted to sign for Turkish giants Galatasaray in the summer to fulfil his dream of playing in the Champions League.
While he might be playing slightly less than he would have thought he would, his return of ten goals and five assists in 37 appearances is pretty good-going, and his goal against United at Old Trafford must have been cathartic.
Man Utd flop who left back in 2015 is now outscoring Hojlund in 2023/24
The superstar couldn’t make it work at Old Trafford, but now he’s scoring for fun.
ByJack Salveson HolmesMar 19, 2024
Ultimately, Zaha was the victim of poor timing and luck at United, and while selling him back to Palace in 2015 was probably the right thing to do, it would have been interesting to see how he would've got on had he stuck it out at the Theatre of Dreams, especially as he's been able to register 135 goals and assists (82 goals) in the years since.