Troy Deeney has picked out Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and a “stinky” Arsenal star as his flops of the Premier League season so far.
Rashford scored 30 goals in the 2022/2023 season but has struggled since then and said in an interview on Tuesday that he wants “a new challenge” having been dropped by Ruben Amorim for the Manchester derby on Sunday.
Deeney says he doesn’t mean to “pile on” before labelling Rashford both the flop of the season and a “baby”. Sounds a bit like a pile on, Troy.
“Who’s been a flop for me… it sounds like I’m piling on and I don’t mean to, but you probably have to say Marcus,” Deeney told talkSPORT.
“Marcus has probably been the biggest disappointment this year.
“‘Flop’ is a hard word but I mean disappointment in terms of expectation and what we think he can deliver.
“We probably have to say Marcus over the course of January until now.
“What I’m on about with ‘baby’ is the attitude, he didn’t start against Arsenal, so he thinks he should start.
“So to prove to people that you should start, he’s just going to walk around, how does that logic work? That’s what a baby does, that’s what my kids do when they don’t get what they want, they sulk and scream and cry.
“And he decided he was going to walk around and try and hit 70-yard diags [diagonal passes] off the pitch but that’s the manager’s fault I suppose?
“I just think he’s highly talented, had all of the opportunity in the world and at some point it’s got to be his fault, and not somebody else’s, that’s what I think.”
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Deeney also picked out Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus for criticism despite the Brazilian scoring an excellent hat-trick in the Gunners’ 3-2 win over Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Tuesday.
“Gabi’s been stinky, he’s been stinky for a little while,”Deeney added.
“He’s a good footballer that doesn’t like scoring goals.
“Personally, when you start telling people that [goals are not my strong point], it’s time to call it a day. I’m not sure why he thought that was clever.”
The former Watford striker was referring to comments Jesus made earlier this month.
Jesus said: “I’ll say it again, but now I think it’s clearer: I don’t think scoring goals or fighting for the top scorer’s honour is my strong point, but I can improve, I want to improve and I will improve. I have other qualities too, but I score goals, I’ve scored goals that have helped the team, I’ve scored hat-tricks.”
