Aside from Chelsea, Manchester United were the busiest of the traditional 'big six' sides in the summer transfer window.

Erik ten Hag welcomed in a number of exciting players, including Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt, while also clearing out the squad of several players deemed not good enough to help the team get back to the top of the game, such as Scott McTominay, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Donny van de Beek.

However, while the club made decent money on some of their departures, one of their most prominent sales from last summer is now worth considerably more to their current side and even outperformed Marcus Rashford last season.

Rashford's recent form

In the 2022/23 campaign, very few players in European football, let alone in the Premier League, were more dangerous than Rashford.

For example, in his 56 appearances that season, he scored a whopping 30 goals and provided 11 assists, meaning that he averaged a goal involvement once every 1.36 games. This red-hot form understandably earned him a bumper new £375k-per-week contract, including bonuses.

However, while he was a goalscoring phenom two seasons ago, he took a massive step back last year and could only muster a return of eight goals and six assists in 43 games, or an average of a goal involvement once every 3.07 games, which is an enormous dropoff.

Even worse than that, the 60-capped international only scored seven goals and provided just three assists in 33 Premier League matches, which equates to a substandard average of a goal involvement every 3.3 games.

Unfortunately for the 26-year-old, he hasn't looked much better this year either. In his four games so far, including the Community Shield, he's failed to score or assist a goal.

Overall, things are not looking great for the Manchester-born winger at the moment, and the fact he was outperformed by a former United squad player in the league last season certainly doesn't help.

Anthony Elanga's recent form

The former United ace in question is Swedish international Anthony Elanga, who, after failing to stake a claim in the first team, was sold to Nottingham Forest for just £15m last summer.

Since making the move, the 22-year-old dynamo has shown the three-time European champions exactly what they're missing by becoming one of the most important players in Forest's squad.

For example, in just 39 appearances last season, the "brilliant" winger, as dubbed by former United defender Wes Brown, scored five goals and provided nine assists. This means he produced the same number of goal involvements as Rashford in fewer matches, equating to an average of one every 2.78 games.

Appearances

36

33

Goals

5

7

Assists

9

3

Goal Involvements per Match

0.38

0.30

However, when we look at just his Premier League performances, things start to look even more impressive, as all 14 of his goal involvements came in his 36 appearances in the competition, meaning he averaged one every 2.57 games in the most demanding league in football.

This outrageous output for a team that was battling relegation for much of the season understandably caught the attention of other clubs. According to a report from Sky Sports News, Newcastle United had a £50m offer rejected on deadline day last week.

Therefore, the Tricky Trees now value their £15m purchase at more than £50m, and based on his performances at the City Ground, who can blame them?

Their own Rabiot: Man Utd fans should be excited about 17 y/o academy star

The incredible youngster could have a bright future at the Theatre of Dreams.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Sep 5, 2024