Marcus Rashford is set to make his Manchester United return this weekend against Leicester.
The forward had struggled with injury during the second half of last season in both his shoulder and ankle.
In hindsight, he probably should have given Euro 2020 a miss.
However, you can’t blame him for being desperate to represent his country in a major international tournament.
As it turned out, Rashford ended up playing the third-fewest minutes of England players who got on the pitch. Gareth Southgate's decision to bring him on with seconds remaining of the final against Italy with the sole purpose to take a penalty in the shootout - only for him to miss and England go on to lose - wouldn’t have done wonders for his confidence, either.
Now, though, Rashford has had shoulder surgery and allowed his ankle time to recover and, three months later, is ready to go again.
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And he’ll certainly need to be at his very best to start every week with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho arriving at Old Trafford this summer.
But Rashford has done everything he can to get himself in the best possible shape. According to the Telegraph, it’s not been “uncommon” to see him arrive at training at 8am and leave at 6pm.
In the gym, he’s had to give his shoulder time to recover so has been concentrating on strengthening his legs. As a result, he’s added 4kg of muscle.
And training images of Rashford ahead of his return to first-team action show that his physical transformation is complete.
Rashford has added 4kg of muscle in his legs
As a teenager, Rashford was skinny and is naturally lean. However, now, he looks like to be in ultimate physical shape.
With Ronaldo pushing him on in both the gym and on the training pitch, don’t be surprised to see Rashford continue to push himself to become the very best version of himself.
The Premier League better watch out.
Solskjaer wants Rashford to concentrate on football
Off the pitch, Rashford has done some amazing things during the pandemic including helping food poverty among children. However, his manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, believes he should now be concentrating on his football.
"He is coming into the best age for a footballer and he's got a challenge on his hands here at Manchester United - and has a challenge on his hands to play for England," Solskjaer said.
"Marcus has done some remarkable and fantastic things. But now he maybe needs to prioritise his football."
"Marcus knows that we want a lot from him, but we are going to give him the time to get back to what he was and what he can be."