It's a case of the chicken or the egg, are those team great because their star players perform or their star players perform because of the team? The thing is he's earning like a worldclass player and he's not remotely performing as one.
Both have to be working together. It is rare we see forwards in a team performing to a high level in stuggling teams. I dont remember seeing United clicking in all 10 other positions and Rashford letting us down.
Yes, he is earning top money because he plays at United, a club with nearly $800mil a year in revenue. Every player at United is overpaid for what they are acheiving.
We gave Mason Mount £250k a week and paid Chelsea £60m to buy him when he only had a year left on his contract. We paid him as if he was a free agent and paid a transfer fee.
Antony, Maguire, De Ligt are on £200k a week. And lets not mention Casemiro on £350k plus a transfer fee. You think that represents value?
We pay massive wages, so expect a player that just scored 30 goals, that is on his 3rd or 4th contract of his United career to receive the same.
If you want to make the case about Rashford being worldclass but not delivering due to the team, then any player in our squad is granted the same wages. Even average players in average teams, thats not the way it works. Players are paid that much to perform, if Haaland continues to underperform he'll be questioned, there's no way he'll be granted years of mediocrity blaming City's poor performances.
Never said he was world class.
It is not as simple as a player getting paid what they are worth. As i explained, it is what it would take to replace Rashford at the time. A time when he was coming off his best season and there was positive vibes around him and Ten Hag.
Go back to summer 2023 when he signed.
You have two options....
You give Rashford a contract for 5 years on about £80m for the term of the contact.
Or you find a replacement and risk Rashford running down his contract and leaving on a free like Mbappe did.
What do you do? And who do you bring in? You aint getting a replacement for that money. And the club looks very stupid if the let him go on a free to a rival.
And the chance of a sale in 2023 would have been slim as we would have wanted £80+mil for the transfer and he would have wanted a £80+mil contact from his next club, thus costing any potential suitor £160mil+. No one is paying that money anymore.
