Town manager Kieran McKenna has backed Marcus Rashford to rekindle his old form ahead of the Blues meeting with Rashford’s Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.
After a difficult few years, Rashford was allowed to depart the Red Devils to join Villa on loan last month and made his debut in last weekend’s FA Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
The 60-cap England international is now in his first spell away from Manchester having played more than 400 games for United since graduating through the academy in 2016.
McKenna, who worked with Rashford during his coaching spell at Old Trafford, believes the forward’s arrival at Aston Villa will only make them stronger and emphasised the attacking depth Unai Emery’s side now have at their disposal.
"Marcus at his best would be an addition to any team in the league,” McKenna said. "We know what a threat he is, of course the boys faced him not so long ago with Man United but have also seen him up close at his best and he can be a fantastic player.
"We know his qualities, we know there’s a chance that we’ll come up against him in some respect on Saturday whether that’s from the start or off the bench.
"They’ve got a very deep, high quality forward unit where they can make really impactful subs, and they can change the balance of the attacking unit by changing some personnel.
"You’re going to face a very strong front four at the start of the game and there’s every chance you’re going to face a really strong different front four at the end of the game.
"We’ve had to be thorough with our preparation, we look forward to taking on that challenge and Marcus will be part of that.”
Reflecting on Rashford as a character, McKenna added: "He was enjoyable to work with. Of course a big talent, I had known him for a lot longer because he came through the academy set-up.
"I joined the academy set-up just after he’d progressed to the first team but we faced him in the FA Youth Cup [when I was at Spurs] and I was close with the academy coaches who worked with him, so it was very easy for me to build a good relationship and trust with him.
"He’s not so much of a young player anymore but he was when I worked with him, with most young players building that trust and that rapport is important. We managed to have that and he’s a big talent.
"Hopefully this will be a good move for him in terms of getting back into form and playing regularly which I’m sure he’ll want to do. I’m sure he adds some different options and has made his judgement on the right criteria.
"He’s certainly gone to a good club to play under a top manager and are still in a lot of competitions. I hope it goes well for him but, of course, not on Saturday.”
Rashford scored against the Blues at Portman Road inside the opening two minutes in Ruben Amorim’s first game as United boss but found matches harder to come by ever since under the former Sporting Lisbon manager.
In December, Rashford admitted he was ready for a new challenge and did not feature in any of United’s final 10 matches before his temporary move away was confirmed.
"Football careers are tough,” McKenna said on Rashford’s recent struggles. "Especially when you start as young as Marcus did and you’re breaking at 18. Hopefully he plays until his mid-30s or beyond, it’s not all going to be smooth sailing and it very rarely is.
"It’s always easy to look at the negative aspect – you can always flip that on its head and say he’s a young player who has come through the academy, is from Wythenshawe, played for his boyhood club, won trophies, has broken records and done some incredible things.
"It’s life, it’s football and things don’t always go in a smooth direction. He’s still young enough and talented enough so I'm sure he’ll be working hard to play again regularly and hit really good form.”
Another player McKenna was keen to praise was fellow Villa forward and England international Morgan Rogers, who has been one of the Premier League’s breakout stars of the last 12 months.
The 22-year-old, who was twice targeted McKenna to come in on loan having previously turned down the chance to move to the Blues prior to his loan spell with Lincoln, has scored in five of his last six games at Villa Park, while the Town boss was keen to stress his delight as seeing players succeed having had successful spells in the lower divisions, Rogers having spent time with the Imps before making another mark in the Championship at Middlesbrough.
McKenna said: "He’s had a fantastic impact and it’s been really good to see. You want to see young players do well and see young British players come through the systems and do well. Everyone’s happy to see players who have come through the EFL and had different loan moves at different clubs and have gone on to thrive.
"I think when a young player does as well as that it’s always a surprise, I couldn’t sit here and say how well Liam [Delap] had done and been surprised, I bet people who worked with him last year at Hull or at Man City [would say the same].
"It’s always a surprise when a young player hits that crescendo, that’s the beauty of working with young, talented players because you don’t know where their ceiling is, when things might drop for them or when their development might really accelerate. But also sometimes it can stall a little bit or there’s bumps in the road.
"He’s certainly kicked on incredibly from the last few years and it’s been good to see, but hopefully we won’t see too much of it on Saturday.”