ON THE SLIDE

EIGHTEEN months ago, having signed a contract worth £84,5million, it seemed Marcus Rashford could do no wrong.

Now, with the transfer window closing on Monday night, the Manchester United striker faces being left out in the cold for the rest of the season — with only the size of his bank balance for comfort.

It’s a dramatic change of fortune for the former academy prodigy, who scored 30 goals in 56 games before signing a five-year deal in 2023.

The life-changing contract guaranteed Rashford £325,000 a week if he stayed at Old Trafford until 2028 — and millions more in bonuses if he helped Manchester United back to its glory days by winning trophies.

With 178 weeks left on his contract, he is guaranteed to earn £57.85million — unless he leaves the club.

Off the pitch, his campaigning on child food poverty earned Marcus widespread plaudits and an MBE.

The footballer also became a bestselling children’s author too, with his Breakfast Club novels drawing on his own upbringing in Wythenshawe, Manchester.

Not bad for a kid from a tough part of town who made his Old Trafford debut in 2016 aged just 18.

But now Rashford, 27, has become a £60million problem for United.

The Sun understands the multi-millionaire player may have met his match in the club’s billionaire minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who he feels wants him out as part of his cost-cutting regime.

‘He feels picked on’

And the speed of the star striker’s fall to persona non grata has left him “bewildered and devastated”, a source said.

They added: “Marcus thinks Sir Jim wants him out of the club and has basically told head coach Ruben Amorim to get him out.

“He might just have met his match with Sir Jim.”

The first signs of Rashford’s demise from one of football’s biggest stars to the founding member of United’s “Bomb squad” can be traced back well before Amorim’s recent arrival.

Respected United We Stand fanzine editor Andy Mitten recently told TalkSport: “Every previous manager has had issues with Rashford. They’ve told me in confidence going back years and years and years.”

Under Erik ten Hag, he was twice admonished by the Dutchman for nights out. He described Rashford enjoying himself at Manchester’s Chinawhite following a 3-0 defeat by Man City in October 2023 as “unacceptable”.

Three months later, Rashford was fined two weeks’ wages after calling in sick for training after a tequila-fuelled two-night bender in Belfast.

His career on the pitch has never recovered, while off it further problems have mounted up.

In July he was given a six-month driving ban after being caught doing 104 mph on the M60 in December 2023. District judge Lucy Hogarth handed him six penalty points which saw him banned, as he had already been hit with six points in February 2023 after exceeding the 20mph limit in Manchester city centre. — Sun.