Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to Marcus Rashford. There is a world in which the gradual, delicate rebuilding of his mind, career and reputation at Aston Villa would humiliate Ruben Amorim and his employers, raising serious questions about their competence and wider club environment. But of course, no risk of that.
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Not receiving a loan fee, the 75 per cent of his salary Villa are covering could rise to 90 if enough performance-related incentives are met. The £40m agreed price is optional, and Unai Emery said after the FA Cup win over Preston that the club’s decision on taking up that option is dependent on results through the rest of this season.
Their only priority now is bleeding as much profit as possible from man who has given the best part of his career and an irreplaceable part of his soul to the club. Who knows, it could even fund free staff lunches for the next 50 years, or more likely one of the flightpath-bothering towers of Sir Norman Foster’s PT Barnum-inspired stadium vision.
Yet any improvement is still so gratefully received, such dramatic progress on the listless yet angry regression of his latter United years, it can be warped and exaggerated by how much English fans want to see him succeed.
“I feel like I’ve been getting fitter and playing better football since I’ve been here,” he said. “I missed a lot of football before joining up with them. My body feels good and I’m enjoying my football for now.”
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“The process we have with him is more or less not changing. There is still work to do because he came here after not training consistently and not feeling in his best fitness. Progressively playing more and with the national team will help him to feel better and today was confirmation of that, which is good.”
The same goes for Antony at Real Betis, with four goals and four assists in his 12 matches since leaving Old Trafford. His is another loan deal dependent on performance-based incentives, but with no pre-agreed fee. Isco joked on Sunday Betis would need to start crowdfunding to sign the man widely considered the worst Premier League signing ever. Three months ago that would have been beyond United’s wildest fantasies.
It is increasingly clear Ineos’s primary objective is emotional and financial bloodletting, a purging of past mistakes and lasering of scars. Cut before you bulk. Out with the old, in with Dorgu. This is a reasonable realisation for any followers of popular soap opera turned farce: Manchester United 2013-2025.
Of course United might well still have Sancho’s slumped shoulders back at Carrington in the summer, but shedding Rashford and Antony for anything above a nominal fee can only be good. Every goal and assist, against Preston or otherwise, can only help that happen.
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