Manchester United have assigned Marcus Rashford the No 14 shirt as the clearest indication yet that the 28-year-old has a future at Old Trafford under Michael Carrick, with transfer expert Fabrizio Romano describing the move as a deliberate message of trust from the club.
Rashford reported to United's Carrington training base on Sunday morning and flew with a group of team-mates to Dublin, where the squad are preparing for their final two pre-season friendlies. The first of those comes against Leeds United at Croke Park on Wednesday. He had not featured for the club since 12 December 2024, when his relationship with then-manager Ruben Amorim broke down entirely.
The No 14 — most recently worn by Christian Eriksen between 2022 and 2025 and previously associated with the likes of Jesse Lingard and Javier Hernandez — becomes Rashford's fourth different number at the club. He debuted in 2015-16 wearing the No 39, switched to No 19 the following season and later inherited the No 10 from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2018. That shirt was handed to Matheus Cunha upon his arrival from Wolves last summer, leaving Rashford without a number; his former numbers 19 and 39 are now occupied by Bryan Mbeumo and Tyler Fletcher respectively.
The new allocation follows a season-long loan at Barcelona in which Rashford scored 14 goals and provided 14 assists in 49 appearances across all competitions. He was part of the squad that won La Liga under Hansi Flick, yet the Spanish club declined to exercise their £26m buy option, opting instead to sign Anthony Gordon from Newcastle United for £69m. Barcelona also sought a second loan arrangement for the coming season, a request United turned down.
"Man United really feel there are concrete, strong and likely chances to see Marcus Rashford staying at Man United," Romano said. "At the moment, there are no movements with other clubs; Marcus Rashford is not accepting Turkey or Saudi; these solutions are not interesting for Marcus Rashford. He's not going to consider that and it's not about the money or the proposals, he doesn't want to play for these clubs at this stage of his career. So for Rashford, is stay at Man United or a very top top club at the end of the window."
Romano also shed light on the role Carrick has played in shaping the club's thinking. "Marcus Rashford is more than happy to stay at Man United and fight for his career in red. Every single day, Michael Carrick is pushing for this solution. He is really happy for Rashford to stay."
Carrick, who was United captain on the day Rashford made his debut in February 2016 and subsequently worked alongside him on the coaching staff, confirmed the forward would be included in the group for the remaining pre-season fixtures. He told reporters that the full complement — among them Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez — would assemble in Dublin, and acknowledged their long shared history at the club.
Rashford's wages of more than £300,000 a week, tied to the five-year contract he signed in July 2023, have complicated any potential departure, with few clubs willing to meet those salary demands. He arrived at Carrington alongside Matheus Cunha, Senne Lammens, Karl Darlow, Matthijs de Ligt, Benjamin Sesko, JJ Gabriel and summer signing Tynan Thompson from Tottenham Hotspur before the group flew to the camp at Maynooth. Wednesday's match against Leeds is expected to come too soon for Rashford, but the squad's second fixture — against AC Milan, now managed by Amorim, in Wroclaw, Poland on Saturday — has been identified as a potential moment for his return.
Reporting: TeamTalk, The Sun, Metro, talkSPORT, GiveMeSport, Daily Mail, Mirror.