'Tough' - Former Manchester United coach offers theory on Marcus Rashford's exit

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna believes Marcus Rashford's loan move to Aston Villa could help reignite his career and has backed him to rediscover the quality that helped him do some "incredible things" at Manchester United.

McKenna worked with Rashford when he was a first-team coach at United under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He was aware of the forward's ability having initially started life at Old Trafford as a coach in the academy.

Rashford scored 138 goals in 426 games for United and won five major trophies, but his time at his boyhood clubs looks to be ending acrimoniously. He was banished from the first-team squad by Ruben Amorim in mid-December and hasn't featured since, completing a loan move to Villa Park in January that contains an option to buy in the summer.

McKenna praised Rashford for his achievements at United and when asked why his career at Old Trafford had stalled, reflected on the difficulties of a long career in the game for players who begin so early.

"I think football careers are tough, especially when you start as young as Marcus did and you break in at 18. If you play until mid-30s or beyond, then it's not all going to be smooth sailing and it very rarely is," he said.

"It's always easy to look at the negative aspect and you could certainly flip that on the head and say that he's a young player who's come through the academy from Wythenshawe and played for his boyhood club and won trophies and broken records and done some incredible things.

"In life, in football, things don't always go in a smooth direction. He's still young enough, he's still talented enough so I'm sure he'll be working hard to play again regularly and hit really good form."

McKenna knows all about Rashford from