MARCUS RASHFORD set himself a staggering goal target for this season – and then warned Wayne Rooney that he is coming for his Manchester United record.
The 25-year-old recently penned a new £325,000-a-week five-year contract worth a staggering £84m.
That was after the striker enjoyed a resurgence under new manager Erik ten Hag last season, scoring 30 goals in 56 games.
Rashford had scored eight of them before heading to the World Cup with England in November and went on to grab three for his country at the tournament.
But after returning to United following the Three Lions’ quarter-final exit, he instantly went on a run of ten goals in as many matches before continuing his hot-streak until the end of the campaign.
Now he has revealed to United legend Gary Neville on The Overlap, in partnership with Sky Bet, how the World Cup helped change his mindset as he targets reaching 40 goals this term.
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He said: “When I came back from the World Cup, I felt like there was a mentality change, and I felt like I was up there with some of the best players in the world at that time.
“Before last season, I always aimed for 20 goals – a good benchmark for a winger. But this season, I’ve hit 30 – we have to try and push it now.
“Towards the end of the season, I was struggling with a few injuries, and I wasn’t quite at it – that’s when the goals started to dry up for a bit. If I can keep that side of it under taps, I feel like I can go on and get 35 or 40.”
Rashford has hit 123 goals in 359 games for his boyhood club since his famous debut in 2016 against Midtjylland.
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Now he has his eyes on surpassing the legendary Rooney’s record total of 253 goals at Old Trafford.
He said: “Hopefully I will [break Wayne Rooney’s all-time United goal record]. You never know what’s going to happen, but I’m all about scoring goals and trying to make assists.
“There’s a chance that it can happen. I’ve spoken to Wazza about it – he wants me to do it!
“He said it would be good for me to do it as I’ve grown up at the club. Hopefully I get the opportunity to try and make it happen.”
Despite his blistering form last season, Rashford also acknowledged that he still has plenty of weaknesses – and he knows exactly what areas he has to improve on.
He said: “I think there's always elements I can add to my game and it’s important to work on your strengths. You want to get your weaknesses as good as they can get, but they are more often than not always going to be a little bit behind your strengths.
“Mine [weaknesses] are my left foot and heading – I always want to work on them.
“My heading is getting better, but I feel like I should score more because I out jump most people. If I'm in the position in the right areas in the box, I should be getting 7-10 headed goals a season – I feel like I can do that, and I'll be pushing to do that next year.”
Rashford added: “For me, my left foot is just about confidence and when I'm confident I’ll score with it. When I’m not confident, it just never goes right on my left foot.
“If I'm feeling confident, strong, fit and healthy, if I get an opportunity on my left, I've got a good chance of scoring as long as I'm in the right areas.
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“A lot of it is about just getting into the right areas because my striker coach always gives me information on getting in across the front post, or on the shoulders of the defenders and stuff like that.”
“It's good for me to know that because even when I'm wide, it helps me understand what my forward would be thinking and where I need to deliver the ball or try and get assists from that aspect, and if I’m in the box, I know where I need to be.”
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