Marcus Rashford is likely to be crucial to Manchester United’s prospective resurgence in the coming years.

For that reason, the Red Devils hierarchy will be relieved to have tied the striker down to a new contract until the summer of 2023.

Despite the fresh terms reportedly set to cost the club around £250,000-a-week, the Old Trafford faithful won’t mind the cost of ending speculation over Rashford’s future.

The England international scored 13 goals in all competitions last season to equal his best return since breaking into the senior squad four years ago.

Only Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku - both five years his senior - were more prolific.

But while Rashford enjoyed a year he can be proud of in terms of individual performances, the same can’t be said of United as a whole.

The 2018-19 campaign was bitterly disappointing for the red half of Manchester, with only Europa League qualification and a Champions League quarter-final to show for at its end.

Having grown up barely seven miles from Sir Matt Busby Way and supported United his whole life, Rashford has perhaps felt the pain of recent years more so than many of his teammates.

“Manchester United are one big family. Some clubs don’t have that - it’s just a football club. That’s why Manchester United are more than a football club to me,” he told The Times.

“Me being a fan changes the emotional side of it. Say we lose a game, it affects me more than it should because I’m a fan.

“It hurts every day to see where we are now, [compared] to where we’ve been in the past. I use that pain as motivation.

“It makes me more determined to put the club back where they belong.

“There’s nothing I want more than to see the club winning the Premier League again, winning the Champions League again. Everybody here deserves much, much more than what we’re giving them right now, not only the fans, the club itself.

"They don’t deserve to be where they are now. As players, we’re the ones who have the opportunity to try and forget about the past five, six years and put the club back on track.”

United's brief surge in form during the first two months of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure probably won’t be the last while the Norwegian rebuilds his disjointed squad.

Rashford seems fully aware of this reality and expects patience will be a necessary virtue on their journey back to the top.

“One season is not going to change it. It can take two or three seasons but I feel we’re ready to take the first step, and really start showing people that we are Manchester United.”