Jamie Carragher has given his verdict on Marcus Rashford’s move to Aston Villa on loan, insisting he ‘never saw’ the Manchester United star moving to a European giant.
Rashford announced his desire for a “new challenge” in mid-December and completed his last-gasp move to Aston Villa over the weekend with alternative options thin on the ground for the 27-year-old.
Villa are covering 70 per cent of his £325,00o-per-week wages and hold the option to make his loan move permanent in the summer for £40m.
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Speaking in his first interview with VillaTV, Rashford said: “It’s an ambitious time for this club and a great opportunity for me to join the team and help them keep pushing forward. I’m excited, can’t wait for the first training session and obviously the first game.
“(Unai Emery is) a top manager and what he’s done at the club since he’s come to Villa is unbelievable.
“It’s the constant ambition that’s attractive, and it’s why you want to join such a club. You want to keep improving year on year, and that’s what the team has been doing and are doing this year.”
Carragher thinks it’s a “decent move” both for Rashford, who wasn’t going to play under Ruben Amorim at Old Trafford, and for Villa, as he gives Emery options.
Carragher told Sky Sports: “I think it’s a good move for Rashford. There was talk of some of the biggest clubs in Europe buying him – I never saw that.
“But there’s no doubt Aston Villa are one of the biggest clubs in this country and they’ve got a fantastic manager. And Unai Emery does get the best out of players more often than not. So it’s a decent move.
“And it’s a good move for Villa as well. There was always a problem that they had Duran and Watkins as both could only play centre forward. Now and again, Watkins could play wide but it wasn’t his strongest suit. So it was always going to be a problem, one had to go.
“Rashford gives you, as an option, through the middle and on the left. He can play with Watkins. And if Watkins is injured, which it looks like he may be, Rashford can get a go through the middle.
“It gives Emery and the Villa team more options -and there’s also more football for him to play. Because there was no chance he was going to get that at Manchester United.”
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Asked if it is Rashford’s last chance at the top level, Carragher said: “We say that a lot but footballers always seem to get a second chance.
“Certainly someone who has had the pedigree of Rashford, he’s always shown he has the quality but maybe not often enough. Like all managers, Emery will have that ego that he is the manager to unlock that, to get Rashford back to his best.”
