Here's an exhaustive list of players who have scored and assisted more goals over the last two seasons in the top 5 leagues, the associated domestic cups and European competitions:
- Lewandowski - 114
- Messi - 100
- Mbappé - 87
- Ronaldo - 79
- Lukaku - 73
- Immobile - 71
- Müller - 71
- Haaland* - 70
- Kane - 69
- Werner - 68
- Sancho - 68
- Benzema - 68
- Salah - 66
- Sterling - 65
- Bruno* - 65
- Fernandes - 65
* Domestic goals scored in Austria and Portugal are not included
That's the company Rashford is looking to keep up with and doing so admirably. Above him you have the two greatest players ever, the current de facto best player in the world, the consensus two future heirs to the world game, and then a pretty tight pack of players.
He's basically been as a good as anyone else, and realistically could have been as high as fifth in the world, competing with Cristiano, if he hadn't done the right thing and handed over penalty and free kick taking duties to Bruno in good faith.
Good luck to anyone who thinks Marcus Rashford is the area to improve at Old Trafford. People need to go and look at the output of many of our forwards during our golden years, or even many of the so-called greats during the 90s and early 2000s. He's going head-to-head with Rooney at this age. In the seasons they turned 22 and 23, Rooney scored or assisted 70 goals. Rashford currently has 65 (with a maximum of 13 games to go), despite the fact that everyone seems to believe he has been injured for over a year, been "shit" individually and playing for what many regard as a "crap" team.
Rashford is the one of most valuable players in the world for good reason. The only players younger than him on this list are Haaland, Mbappe and Sancho. Here's arguably the third or fourth best and most productive attacking player in the world in his age bracket or younger. If he was at any other club, we would be creaming ourselves at the thought of signing him.
I still remember the day I read a post on here lamenting that we didn't send him out on loan and get Haller in for him...