Solskjaer’s gross mismanagement of Rashford is a disgrace

Far more has been going wrong than right for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer recently, and his mismanagement of Marcus Rashford’s injury is the worst of the lot.

Not a lot has gone right for Manchester United this season. They are struggling to keep pace with the top 4, their best player Paul Pogba has been MIA for most of the campaign, and their inexperienced manager is still going through the motions. However, something that had been going right all season long was the form of Marcus Rashford.

While Rashford has been around for a long time, since mid-2016 to be exact, we were yet to witness a true breakout season from him – until now. With 14 goals and 4 assists in 22 Premier League matches, Rashford has been one of the standout players in this campaign, even keeping up with prolific goalscorers such as Aguero, Aubameyang, and Vardy in the golden boot race.

However, Rashford’s season has come crashing down this week with an injury that will reportedly keep him out for nearly the rest of the season.

The blame for this injury falls onto the shoulders of Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has balanced Rashford’s workload awfully and cost him a true breakout campaign.

You see, Rashford had been struggling with an injury for a while. Henry Winter reports that the England international originally had a single stress fracture in his back, but has now picked up a double stress fracture which will elongate his period on the sidelines. He got the double stress fracture because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided to bring him on as a substitute in the FA Cup against Wolves for utterly no reason.

Rashford also has a loose bone in his foot that will require surgery, as per the same tweet from Winter.

For weeks Rashford had been playing through the pain, yet instead of giving him a well-deserved break from football during an FA Cup fixture, Solskjaer jumped the gun and risked the 22-year-old’s health for something that was never going to be worth the risk. He paid the price, and now his best performer is out for 2-3 months and the blame falls onto his own shoulders.

This gross negligence of a young footballer’s health is a prime example of how unfit Solskjaer is for management at this sort of level. He put a short-term cup result ahead of his young star’s fitness on his priority list, and it may very well cost Manchester United their season, or perhaps his job.