Jose Mourinho has a habit of seeming mystic when it comes to Manchester United.
At least, after the fact, that is, because a lot of his comments that were laughed out of the room when he was Red Devils manager have come to look eerily accurate in the years since.
Take, for example, the fact that Mourinho named leading United to a second-place Premier League finish in 2017/18 as one of his greatest ever achievements and how so many fans and onlookers quickly scoffed at the thought.
Mystic Mourinho on Man Utd
But once United's underpinning woes and the issues with that very squad became more and more apparent upon Mourinho's departure, his comments suddenly didn't look so silly anymore.
In fact, such has been the feeling of 'damn, Mourinho had it right all along,' in recent years that we could reveal no less than seven times that he predicted the future at United earlier in 2022.
And one of those very forecasts could well come to bite the Erik ten Hag era in the backside.
Ten Hag playing Rashford as a striker
That's because there's a worrying sense that history might be repeating itself with the new United manager's recent experiment of playing Marcus Rashford as a centre forward.
With the problems surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo well documented and Anthony Martial struggling for fitness, reverting to Rashford in the number nine position just as Mourinho tried before him has hitherto bore fruit.
It's not been a tactical approach without its teething issues, but Rashford nevertheless scored the winning goal against Liverpool and smashed two strikes past Arsenal in the space of four games.
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Ten Hag thinks Rashford can become one of the world's best
You certainly can't turn your nose up at that and a new report from The Sun suggests that Ten Hag has been so impressed with Rashford up front that he has huge aspirations for the 24 year old.
The report quotes a source as saying: “The manager wants Marcus to be United’s No 1 striker and lead the line up front. He believes Marcus has the ability to become one of the world’s best and wants him to express himself in matches.
“He is always telling him to use his pace and skills when he gets a chance. He told Marcus he will easily score 20 this season. They have a great relationship and Marcus is really happy.”
They go on to say: “As long as Ronaldo starts on the bench, the players have the confidence to express themselves.
“With Ronaldo on the pitch, the team feel pressured. All the players loved it when Ronaldo came back but they’re frustrated he missed pre-season. Ronaldo’s not up to speed and relies on instinct - but that doesn’t work in Ten Hag’s system.”
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Mourinho's analysis of Rashford as a striker
But this is where mystic Mourinho comes in because it's hard not to think back to his 2019 analysis of Rashford playing as a striker when there's so much hype around the idea all over again.
Because although Rashford has evidently delivered the goods against more ambitious teams like Arsenal and Liverpool by punishing them on the break, the fear is more that the England star simply won't be as effective when playing against teams utilising a low block.
According to Goal, Mourinho told Sky Sports: "I am not going to say he cannot ever be a number nine, he can be a dangerous number nine especially if the opposition is not pragmatic, is not close and is giving spaces to attack. He can be dangerous in transitions.
"But when Manchester United is a team that normally plays against teams who go to Old Trafford, close the door, bring the bus, bring the double bus, he is not a striker to play with his back to the goal.
"He is not the target man, he doesn’t score as many goals as a striker should do. So I think from the side you will get him to numbers of 10-12 goals per season."
Video: Mourinho analyses Rashford playing as a striker for Man Utd
According to the Manchester Evening News, Mourinho then added the following month: “As a number nine I don’t think he has the 30 goals a season in him. I don’t think he can get better as a target man. To be better as a target man is difficult for him.”
Does Mourinho have a point?
And when you consider that Rashford was far less effective as a number nine against the more defensive-minded Southampton and Leicester City, it's hard not to feel as though the 'Special One' has a point.
Yes, Rashford can cause havoc over the top in transitions as he did in the big recent games at Old Trafford, but can he deliver the goods when a team is trying to strangle the life out of United?
Hopefully, the answer is 'yes' to that question and mystic Mourinho proves to be wide of the mark this time because it would be lovely to see Rashford firing on all goalscoring cylinders once again.
It really was sad to see a player of his quality struggling so much last season and Mourinho himself vouched for just how much professionalism and hard work the United star always shows throughout his time at United.
But when you consider Mourinho's track record with predictions and exactly how Rashford's return to life as a striker has panned out so far, it's fair to say that Ten Hag should really bear his comments in mind.