Manchester United attacker watched in disbelief as Paris Saint-Germain superstar Mbappe and his joyful France team-mates celebrated after they eliminated England from the World Cup in the quarterfinal round.
There are many reasons to be pleased with their efforts, even though they fell short to France 2-1. Rashford, who finished the tournament with three goals, can be especially proud of his own performances in Qatar.
Erik ten Hag compared Marcus Rashford to France’s Kylian Mbappe and thinks Rashford has a chance to surpass Mbappe as the best striker in the world.
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After little over four months of collaboration, Ten Hag stated: “From the first moment I recognised huge potential.”
“And now to get out the potential, I believe when Marcus’s positioning is on the back of the defending line there is almost no better player in the world.”
“There is Mbappe in this moment, a type like him. But when he (Rashford)’s getting in that position, he’s great and you see he’s really improved also out of possession.”
“You see the second goal against Wales when he’s winning the ball for the team and Phil Foden finished,” Eric ten Hag added.
“I see him do that all the time, the first press, he was doing a really good job there for England.”
“For us the headed goal against West Ham United, I don’t think he makes goals like that so often but he’s investing in it.”
“I triggered him a little bit, he worked with our specific coaches on it, on finishing with headers and then you see he got the benefit from it.”
“So when I say he is the one who plays on the shoulder from the defending line, make sure you’re coming in such situations and it’s really difficult to stop him.”
Ten Hag can only hope that the attacker, who was contemplating his future last summer following two dreadful years of injuries and poor performance, will put even more effort into the Dutchman’s plan for him.
His contract expires in July along with David de Gea, Diogo Dalot, Luke Shaw, and Fred.
Ten Hag has stated categorically that all five of them will be subject to one-year extensions, but he wants them to all commit for much longer.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the president of Paris Saint-Germain, reiterated his intention to make an offer that could more than triple Marcus Rashford’s £225,000 weekly salary in the run-up to England’s World Cup quarterfinal loss to Les Bleus.
Al-Khelaifi revealed: “We’re not hiding it, we spoke before. He’s another player who’s amazing and for free? To have Rashford for free, every club will run after him.”
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Ten Hag revealed: “That’s one of the first things I said to him, was come to training and smile.
“We bring him exercises that hopefully bring players joy.”
Ten Hag was asked if he can persuade him extend his stay, the boss said: “I can’t answer that question.”
“He has to make a decision and only what we can do is to show him that this is the best club to be at.”
“That is what we can do — it has to do with the culture of the club, but also in the way we are working, working together.”
“It has to do with the way we play, the way we train, offering the right environment to progress further on and it’s also a financial issue as well.”
“If we do that, about the ambitions and how we want to fulfil the ambitions, these talks we will have with him.”
“Then it is up to him to make the decision. It’s one-and-a-half years, he will be here.”
“We are talking with them to extend their contracts but we are in control because on all the players we have option — and we will exercise these options.”
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