"Marcus is a top, top human being"

Marcus Rashford has been a credit to the club, his city and his family during lockdown. Not only has he helped to raise money to feed 1.3 million children, he took on the government to put pressure on them to feed hungry kids over the summer break. During an unprecedented time, with job losses and reductions in wages taking their toll, Rashford wrote a passionate open letter to implore Boris Johnson to make a u-turn on his decision to cut the food vouchers off in a few weeks time. Remarkably, Rashford was listened to and has made an impact no other English footballer has done before.

In the press conference ahead of Friday’s game against Tottenham Hotspur, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke about the pride he felt over Rashford’s achievements.

What Marcus has done has been incredible with his family, with his own personality of course. Marcus has always been a great human being. Coming up through the Academy, I think the club recognised that early on and gave him chances. Of course we saw the talent, but you need to be a really good human being as well to come all the way through that. He’s changed the lives of so many kids this summer, which is more important than any game of football that he would probably play. Hopefully he can keep both sides going as well as he’s doing now.

What he’s done over the last few months… Marcus is such a top, top human being and he’s brought his own experiences as a kid into this conversation and changed the lives of so many kids, as you said. So he’s already been the captain of the club at such a young age and he’s proving all the time his human qualities, which is the main attribute for a Man United player, along with his qualities as a player.

Me, at 22, of course I wouldn’t be in a position to affect people and affect a change like this. I don’t think Marcus is thinking about this politically or in any other way apart from helping people and helping kids.

He knows deep inside that he has helped children with food now and to change their lives, and I think that makes him feel good about himself and using his position as a role model at Man United. He’s one of the top players in the country, a Man United player, and he can affect people in a good way – that’s what it is about. He is a good human being. He wants to make a good change. It’s not about him or anything bigger than that.