Manchester United attacker Marcus Rashford has signed a contract extension keeping him at the club until 2024, the English outfit announced yesterday. The new contract on a reported £250,000-a-week plus bonuses, makes him the highest-paid English player in the Premier League, according to the Independent newspaper.
The 25-year-old agreed a new deal alongside Diogo Dalot, Fred and Luke Shaw with the four players’ current contract up at the end of the season. The England forward came through United’s academy and was part of his country’s squad that reached this month’s World Cup quarter-finals.
“We want to develop, we want to support those players and we want them to keep in our process,” United coach Erik ten Hag said. “We want to construct a team for the future, so for longer years, and those players have to be part of it,” he added.
Rashford has rediscovered his form this season under new boss Ten Hag, playing 20 matches in all competitions and scoring nine goals. Dalot, Fred and Shaw have also been heavily involved, each making more than 15 appearances in all competitions. “Yes, I can confirm it,” Ten Hag told the club’s website in an excerpt from an interview to be published on Tuesday. “We are happy because the squad is going in the right direction and those players (have) a massive contribution in that direction. We want to develop, we want to support those players and we want them to keep in our process. “So, that’s why we came to those decisions, I’m sure they are the right decisions. We want to construct a team for the future, so for longer years, and those players have to be part of it.”
Portugal right-back Dalot, 25, joined the 20-time league champions in 2018, 27-year-old England left-back Shaw arrived four years earlier and Brazil midfielder Fred, who turns 30 in March, moved from Shakhtar Donetsk four seasons ago.
Ten Hag’s side, fifth in the table, return to Premier League action following the World Cup break on Tuesday as they host Nottingham Forest.
Goalkeeper David de Gea, who is also in the last year of his contract and has a similar option for an extension, is yet to come to an agreement with the club. Ten Hag said in October he hoped the Spaniard would stay on at Old Trafford. United, who are fifth in the Premier League standings, next face 18th-placed Nottingham Forest.
The Reds returned to action with a 2-0 win over Burnley in the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford but, despite the clean sheet, there was a rather makeshift look to the defence with Casemiro moving into the back four.
Erik ten Hag expects Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane, who played in the World Cup final, to be available for selection again soon.
Marcus Rashford
