UK Edition
Jose Mourinho hails Marcus Rashford's physical evolution - 'He's three centimetres taller with muscle'
Jose Mourinho has revealed Marcus Rashford has grown three centimetres in the past year as the Manchester United striker put his increased physicality to good use by scoring twice in a 5-2 win over LA Galaxy.
Rashford’s exploits upstaged Romelu Lukaku after the Belgium striker missed a glorious chance to score four minutes into his United debut at the StubHub Centre, but Mourinho offered a robust defence of his new £90 million recruit.
“He didn’t score goals but he played better than the ones who did score goals,” the United manager said.
It is doubtful Mourinho meant Rashford, who scored with two fine finishes but should have claimed a hat-trick after missing an excellent opportunity late in the first half before making way for Lukaku at half-time when the manager made 11 changes.
Rashford is sporting a significantly more muscular frame and Mourinho explained that, as well as bulking up, the 19 year-old has also grown since he took charge at the club in May last year.
“It’s just the natural evolution of a kid,” Mourinho said. “You change your body when you're a young kid. He's already taller than when I arrived 13 months ago - he's three centimetres taller - and he put on some muscle but without any kind of specific work because his speed is his most important quality.
“He was in a different team than Lukaku [against the Galaxy] but we will also try both in the same team, which I think can also work.
“Last season everyone was saying it would be difficult for me to play Marcus - but he was one of the top in appearances for the team. He's learning a lot, a great professional, great attitude.
“Last season he was not scoring goals and missing a lot of chances, which was not a drama, because that's part of the evolution. We know he is going to score more goals than last season.”
Mourinho said he had not appointed anyone as vice-captain, even though his new choice of captain – Michael Carrick – is unlikely to be a guaranteed starter. Nonetheless, Mourinho did raise the prospect of midfielder Carrick – who is 36 later this month - also staying beyond next season.
“We don't have a vice captain, a captain is enough,” Mourinho said. “Michael is obviously the captain and when Michael is not on pitch... we are going to try and feel and make decisions. We have people that step by step we have to prepare because Michael will be the captain for one year, maybe two if he decides to do that and his body resists the demands of the Premier League and Champions League, but for this season only one captain.”