Rashford: Lukaku partnership could fire Man Utd to glory

Marcus Rashford has high hopes that he and Romelu Lukaku can fire Manchester United to glory this season.

Jose Mourinho guided United to third place in the Premier League last season, securing a return to the Champions League, but a title tilt fizzled out early in the campaign – hampered by a struggle to break sides down at Old Trafford.

Their shot-shyness has been remedied somewhat by the £75million capture of Lukaku, who scored 25 goals last season – a tally bettered only by Harry Kane in the league.

Rashford and Lukaku are yet to play in tandem for United, having taken turns to lead the line in either half of their pre-season friendlies so far, but the England striker is excited by the prospect of a potential partnership.

“I think different games require different tactics and it just gives the manager one extra thing to use,” Rashford said. 

“I think it’s not only me and Romelu. We can play with Anthony [Martial] and Romelu. We’ve got a few different options that we can play. It widens our chances of glory next season.”

Lukaku enjoyed his best season to date with Everton in 2016-17 and Rashford believes the Belgian is ready to make the step up, having been discarded by Mourinho at Chelsea in 2013.

Rashford added: “I think he’s gone through a phase in his career now and he’s coming up to his prime years and he’s been scoring a lot of goals for the last three or four years. 

“He’s in a good place in his career and probably come here at the right time.

“I’ve only been playing up front for maybe two years. We’ve only usually played one striker up front in the academy, so it’s different for me.

“Having two up front is definitely beneficial for me. So once you get used to it and start to build relationships and connections then it’s a positive formation to play.”