Marcus Rashford told to leave Man Utd if he's not '100 percent' behind Erik ten Hag as Lee Sharpe makes bold suggestion that struggling forward doesn't 'love the club enough'

Rashford embarrassed United after missing training the day after being filmed in a nightclub in Belfast, amid reports that he had been on a tequila-fuelled binge in Northern Ireland with an old team-mate. He scored in his next game against Wolves and also performed well against Aston Villa, but former United winger Lee Sharpe is concerned that the recent episode suggests he does not fully back Ten Hag.

"We know he likes to point to his head when celebrating and I think that’s where all the answers lie – does he love the club enough and want to play there enough?" Sharpe told luckyblock.com. "He needs to want to help his team and try and reach those levels of last season; if he isn’t, then he may have had his head turned. Is he perhaps unhappy with the manager or the way that the club is being run? There may be something on the inside that we don’t know about which is making him that 4-5% unhappier at the club, in which case, he needs to leave and be replaced by someone who is 100% behind the team and the manager. Only Marcus Rashford can really answer that question."

"I don’t know him personally, so I think only Marcus Rashford knows what’s going on with his United career,” Sharpe added. “It’s difficult for him because he’s ‘Mr Manchester United’ at the moment, but his performances this season compared to last year are like chalk and cheese. We know he likes to point to his head when celebrating and I think that’s where all the answers lie – does he love the club enough and want to play there enough?"

Even before his controversial night out in Belfast, Rashford had been widely criticised for his drastic drop-off in performances this season, having scored a career-best 30 goals last term. He has just five goals this campaign and his behaviour had previously come under scrutiny after going to a nightclub following United's humiliating 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester City in October.

Rashford's upturn in form has helped lift United's hopes of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League. They face a huge test on Sunday at Aston Villa, who are fourth in the Premier League.