Marcus Rashford Quashes Recent Speculation He Could Quit Man Utd Over Lack of Starts

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford appears to have quashed recent speculation that he could quit his boyhood club over a lack of starting opportunities after admitting that the fortunes of the team remain more important than any individual and speaking about the special privilege it is to be a local home-grown player.

Rashford has started fewer than half of his 29 Premier League appearances so far this season and surprisingly hasn't been named in Jose Mourinho's XI since bagging a brace in a crucial win over Liverpool at Old Trafford last month.

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But he has made more overall appearances than any other United player this season. But if that stays the same for the remainder of 2017/18, it will be the second consecutive campaign in which he has been Mourinho's most used player after making 53 total appearances in 2016/17.

"I wasn't aware of [the stat] before I saw it and it's something to be proud of," Rashford told the latest issue of Inside United.

"But we always want more and we always want to show progression individually and as a team, so the numbers don't really matter as much as the results do to me."

And while it seems he would like to be involved and play as many minutes as possible, the 20-year-old is first and foremost a team player. Even though he hasn't been starting as much of late, United have still been winning and he views that as more important.

It suggests, certainly given that he is still so young, that those sensational claims he could be ready to move on if Mourinho remains in charge, are wide of the mark.

"A lot of people have that dream [of being a local homegrown player], so you're not only doing it for you; you're doing it for a lot of people that you might not even know, but there are a lot of people who had the dream of playing for their local team when they were young," he said.

"So I think you are playing not only for yourself and for the club, but for all the people that are living that dream through you."