Ryan Giggs has warned Marcus Rashford that he should rediscover his smile and love for football if he wants to get his career back on track.
Welsh legend Giggs was in the coaching staff of Manchester United when the attacker broke through in 2016 and says he looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
United Rashford, 27, was on loan at Aston Villa on Sunday after boss Ruben Amorim made it clear that he will not pick him.
Giggsy, 51, said: “Everyone will remember that smile and that pleasure and freedom when he came for the first time – but he doesn't look like that now.
“He is a human being and he just doesn't look happy. He looks like he has the world on his shoulders.
“He has to play with that freedom and pleasure that brought him where he is now.
“It is perhaps more than nine years ago, but Giggs remembers the day very clearly.
At the beginning of 2016, Giggs and Louis van Gaal Net had just finished leading a training session from the first team and walked to one of the youth team fields on Carrington HQ by Manchester United.
Between them, Red Devils -Baas LVG and his no. 2 thought they had seen it all during their long career in the game.
But almost immediately a boy stood out.
He had just turned 18, but was fearless, scored all kinds of goals and had “a little bit of everything”.
But they were hit by his smile, his enthusiasm and the way in which he played the game with so much freedom.
Van Gaal and Giggs looked at each other and knew immediately that he had to be promoted to the first team.
That boy was Marcus Rashford.
Within a few weeks he scored goals for the first team and seemed to be destined for a shimmering career at his boy's club.
But almost a decade later he was shown the door by the Red Devils on Sunday.
And Giggs is surprised to see the English striker with 'the weight of the world on his shoulders' – and that fascinating smile is nowhere to be seen.
Reminding the first time he saw Rashford, the United Legend Giggsy said: “It was actually a small-sided, eight-versus-thought game.
“We saw Marcus pass a few players and put it in the bottom corner and then score another goal.
“Me and Louis looked at each other and went:” We have to choose this boy – he's too good. “
“He came to the first team and of course scored on his debut and everyone will smile that pleasure and that freedom.
“He had a little bit of everything. He was brave, he was not afraid, he would hire players and score all types of goals. “
Thirteen times Prem-winner Giggs spent more than two decades as a player at Old Trafford and is always happy to see a child coming through the ranks.
So he is sorry to see that Rashford – who is on loan at Aston Villa – is losing his way.
Welsh Wing Wizard Giggs said: “United must come through young players, one of them and it just felt that he was the next.
“But for whatever reason, he had a decent career, but he never became what I thought he would be.
“More than whatever, he is a human and he just doesn't look happy.
“He looks like he has the world on his shoulders.
“And I don't know why, because the boy I saw and whom I coached did not have the world on his shoulders.
“He just played with freedom, he loved the club and was a great boy, but he just doesn't look now.”
Although the future of Rashford now seems to be away from the Theater of Dreams, Giggs hopes that the 27-year-old attacker can rediscover his love for the game.
He added: “Hopefully he will find where he was ten years ago and never forgot that it is the best job in the world.
“You should enjoy it because it will soon be over – you have to try to enjoy every minute.
“He has to play with that freedom and that pleasure that brought him where he is now – and hopefully he will.”
United coach Ruben Amorim has been critical of Rashford's efforts in training since he took over as a manager in November after Erik ten Hag was fired the month before.
And Giggs said that the secret of his own long shelf life in Old Trafford was the hard work he did in Carrington when things didn't go on his way.
He added: “I have played for 20 years and you have highlights and you have lows.
“But if I ever struggled, I would go back to the training field and make sure that during the week I ate well, I rested, I trained well and I did the right things and it soon comes back.
“You also need help from your teammates, your coaches and your manager.
“But in the end you have to do it yourself.
“If I never played great, I would ask one of the coaches to do dribbling exercises or ask a keeper to go into the net.
“Or ask Gary Neville to do five one-V-OONES with me, which had to build my self-confidence.”
Giggs opens
The old Trafford icon spoke this week on a Q&A with the son of Nobby Stiles, during an evening with Ryan Giggs in the Bawa in Bristol.
Giggs explained how he is worried that United is too dependent on the young players – which is very different from when the legendary class of '92 was created.
The winger hit the great time under Sir Alex Ferguson together with teammates David Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
Giggsy added: “Now you ask players who are young and just start their career to be the difference and to be the difference every week. That is very difficult for 18, 19, 20-year-old boys.
“You need a team and you need a team and I know that I am referring a lot to it, but for the class of '92 we were nothing without the big professionals, the most experienced professionals, around us and we had a lot of help . “
As a former winger, the Welshman has been enthusiastic in recent years about the rise of Alejandro Garnacho, 20 and 22-year-old Amad Diallo.
The couple has yielded rare light moments for United in another dark few years after the retirement of the legendary Gaffer Fergie.
Salford co-owner Giggs said: “United has a rich history of wing players and players who express themselves, young players who come into the team and let things happen and who do two players.
“Those who have fallen in the past year or so are Garnacho and Diallo.
“They are the united players who seem to make things happen, although this system does not necessarily fit with Garnacho.
“You still have the feeling that things are going to happen, even though he has not been brilliant this season.
“Last season Garnacho was very good and Diallo was probably the radiant light this season.”
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