Manchester United Prioritize Contract Extension For Star Despite His Poor Form: Report

Manchester United reportedly are set to offer a contract extension to Marcus Rashford.

Manchester United will prioritize a new deal for their academy product Rashford despite the English forward's recent dip in form, sources told ESPN. However, International Business Times could not verify the report independently.

Rashford is contracted with Manchester United until 2023. The club has the option to extend those terms by 12 months, which the Old Trafford side will certainly do to secure the player until the end of the 2023-24 campaign.

Manchester United are "confident" that Rashford is prepared to commit his future to the club, but the player's loss of form is an "issue" that coaching staff and senior figures are determined to address, the ESPN report further claimed.

When the 2021-22 season kickstarted, Rashford was on the sidelines recovering from a shoulder surgery following England's Euro 2020 campaign – where he missed a penalty in the final against Italy.

On his return to action, Rashford scored against Leicester City and Tottenham in October. However, the 24-year-old forward has struggled for form since then and now has failed to score in his previous 11 matches.

In Manchester United's latest match, which was a 1-0 win over Aston Villa in FA Cup, Rashford was on the receiving end of a massive backlash for performing poorly that saw him being subbed off in the 86th minute.

"Actually I don't know. I think he's trying hard. In training he was doing well in the last couple of days, that's why he was quite rightly in the starting XI. Of course it would be good, for example, for Marcus if he could score a goal but as long as he's trying, as long as he's training well I don't see that much of a problem," Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick said in a recent interview, 90Min reported.

Rashford, who is into his seventh season in senior soccer, has scored 91 goals in 286 matches for Manchester United.