Arsenal be alert! Marcus Rashford stalling on new Manchester United contract due to lack of game time

Since making his breakthrough from the Manchester United youth ranks and all the way to the first team last season under Louis Van Gaal, Marcus Rashford was expected to play a much bigger role for Manchester United this season. But the highly rated forward has found first team action hard to come by under Jose Mourinho and is now stalling on a new contract.

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The 19-year-old made his debut for Manchester United in the Europa League last season and he marked it with two goals. Then, three days later he went on to score another two goals on his Premier League debut against Arsenal and while he was thriving last season, the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the start of this season reduced his game time and has also forced him to play out of position on the left side.

Marcus Rashford by trait is center forward, but he can also operate on the left side of the wing and with Ibrahimovic in such excellent form for Manchester United at the moment, it does not look like he will be getting a lot of first team chances any time soon.

Jose Mourinho has preferred to play the England international on the left wing for most of this season and with Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial ahead of him in the pecking order, he has decided to wait before committing to a new contract as he is not sure if he will be a regular under Mourinho in the coming seasons.

Despite being only 19 years old, Rashford has the ability and the skill set to become a regular at Manchester United, but with Mourinho desperate to extend Ibrahimovic's stay at the club by another year at least and with Antoine Griezmann expected to join United in the summer, Rashford's chances of getting regular first team football are reducing even more.

Marcus Rashford had the chance to leave Manchester United in the January transfer window as West Ham and Spanish club Sevilla were ready to take him on loan by Manchester United blocked his move. Jose Mourinho does rate Rashford very highly, but given the plethora of talent at United at the moment he was always going to struggle to get regular football.

Even if Manchester United do let Rashford leave in the summer it will probably be on loan and they will make sure he signs a new contract with the club first as they will not want to let go of one of their brightest future prospects.