Manchester United’s history is littered with legendary figures but Marcus Rashford is the only player in the current squad capable of adding his name to the list of greats, says Paul Ince.
For the former Red Devils midfielder, the vast majority of those currently gracing the books at Old Trafford are forgettable.
The 13-time Premier League champions are still stuck in the rut they slipped into on the back of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
Considerable recruitment has delivered little return on sizeable investment, with questions continuing to be asked of transfer business in the red half of Manchester.
Ince is among those to have been outspoken in his criticism at times and has reiterated his belief that United’s class of 2019-20 is a long way short of the required level.
He feels there are a number of reasons for that, telling Planet Football of the modern day Red Devils: “United fans look back at the great players and they are all from a decade ago and when I look at this current team, I don’t think too many people will look back in a year from now and think they were great players.
“Marcus Rashford may go on to have a great United career, but the rest of them? I’m not so sure.
“The reason I went to Manchester United is I wanted to win things. It was my life, it was my passion. The money was secondary to me, but you wonder now with the money being so amazing for so many players whether it has become a job and some of that passion to succeed is lacking.
“When you get all that money at the age of 20 and you think you have made it, you don’t have the people around you to keep your feet on the floor. That’s when you need experienced people around you to give you advice.
“I was fortunate to have Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes and Steve Bruce around me when I went to United and they ran that dressing room. The manager didn’t run it, the players were running that club and he gave them a licence to do that.
“Now it is completely different and I wonder whether some players see this as a way to make a lot of money quickly and success is secondary.
“You see some of them happy to sit there and not bother going out on loan because they are on big money at their club and they are happy to sit in the stands and I just don’t understand that mentality.
“I wanted to play football, whether it was for a pound a week or a thousand pound a week. I wanted to play and win trophies and that passion never left me.
“Now I look at United and a lot of teams in the Premier League and that drive and passion is lacking for me. It’s a problem all managers are having to try and deal with.”
United need to find a way of returning passion to their ranks as they sit outside of the top four once again this season and are in danger of missing out on qualification for the Champions League.