Wayne Rooney hopes “incredible talent” Marcus Rashford can help bring titles back to Manchester United and put himself at the same level as the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
The 20-time league champions have now not won a Premier League crown for a decade, with neighbours Manchester City establishing themselves as the dominant force during that period.
United have endured a topsy-turvy time since Rooney helped Sir Alex Ferguson’s side lift the 2012-13 title but things are looking up under Erik ten Hag.
Mason Mount has joined from Chelsea and Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana is set to follow him to Old Trafford as the Dutchman looks to build on last season’s Carabao Cup triumph and third-place finish.
United have been further boosted on Tuesday by tying down homegrown star Rashford, who has signed a new five-year deal after breaking the 30-goal barrier for the first time last season.
“I think Ten Hag has done really well since he came in last season,” Rooney, the club’s all-time top scorer, said.
“You can see he’s trying to create a squad and a mentality with the signings he made last season and also again what they’re trying to do this year.
“I think Marcus Rashford is an incredible talent. I am delighted he signed a new deal. I think the next five years for him is going to be real important in his legacy, if you like.
“Because he can score a lot of goals but if he really wants to go to that level which Mbappe and Haaland are at, I think he has to be the man to get Manchester United back to winning trophies and league titles. I hope he can do that.”
City – basking in the afterglow of their treble triumph – are some hurdle to overcome, with up-and-coming manager Rooney full of praise for Pep Guardiola.
“I think Manchester City have certainly raised everything,” the DC United boss said. “You look at Liverpool for a couple of seasons were really challenging them.
“They’ve set a challenge for Manchester United, for Arsenal, for Chelsea, for Liverpool and all the teams, really.
“Guardiola has been, for me, one of the best things to happen to English football – not just in terms of the league but actually the England national team too.
“Some of the coaching he’s given the young English players, before with (Raheem) Sterling, John Stones, Kyle Walker, has really helped them develop as players.
“I know they were senior players in the England set-up, to pass that knowledge onto some of the other players well.
“Yeah, there’s a challenge there. I think it goes in cycles – we’ve seen it throughout the years with Manchester United, Arsenal having dominance, Chelsea having dominance.
“Unfortunately it’s Manchester City’s time of dominance but I’m sure the teams that are challenging are going to be coming back over the next few years, that’s for sure.”
Rooney was speaking ahead of managing the Major League Soccer All-Stars against Arsenal, whose manager Mikel Arteta is another coach he admires.
“I think he’s done incredible, really, to go in at Arsenal and he won the FA Cup in the first season and really pushed Manchester City last season,” the England great said.
“Still as a young coach, it’s great to see. Everyone coaches in their own ways, styles and identities.
“He’s been fantastic and I’m sure working with Guardiola helped him massively as well.
“That’s where you want to get to as a young coach, into the top teams obviously, being English, in the Premier League.
“I’m going through the steps to try and do that where Arteta has already been through those steps and had probably the best training he could have working alongside Guardiola.”
Rooney and Arteta shared a warm embrace between the press conferences in Washington DC, where new boy Declan Rice could make his first Arsenal appearance since joining for £105million from West Ham.
“I think he’s a huge signing for Arsenal,” Rooney said. “He’s a fantastic player with a great mentality, young.
“Arsenal have got a player at the top of his game but I think he’ll bring a great character into the dressing room.
“He’s a captain, he could be captain of Arsenal. I think he’s a player who Arsenal needed and they’ve certainly got a top player.”
Silva grateful Fulham's dominance was rewarded with late win
Marco Silva believes Fulham claimed a "deserved win" against Brentford, though admits they should have secured the three points much earlier in their 2-1 victory.
It looked like Vitaly Janelt's 24th-minute strike against the run of play was going to wrap up all three points for Brentford, but Harry Wilson proved the Cottagers' hero off the bench, scoring twice in stoppage time to snatch the three points.
Fulham had dominated from the first whistle and had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, though they struggled to find a way past their opponents' staunch defence until the 92nd minute.
Wilson became just the sixth player to score an equalising and match-winning goal from the 90th minute onwards in the Premier League, while his second goal was Fulham's latest-ever Premier League winner at 96:46.
Silva was delighted with how his team pushed until the final seconds to ensure they came away with a win.
"It was definitely a deserved win. We started on the front foot and dominated all the game. In the first 20 minutes, we had two clear chances to score," Silva told BBC Sport.
"After they scored, we didn't lose the confidence and the trust in ourselves, we kept pushing them back, and we created enough to not be losing at half-time.
"I told the players this is football, it can happen, but we have to keep pushing, working hard and playing our way.
"It was late, it should've been much before, but that's football."
Brentford, meanwhile, have now dropped a league-high 14 points from winning positions in the Premier League as they suffered a fifth consecutive away defeat in the competition.
In fact, they are the first side in the competition's history to score the first goal in four consecutive away games and lose all four.
They had defended resolutely until their late lapse in concentration, and even had a chance to win it, only for Bernd Leno's impressive save to keep out Fabio Carvalho in the 95th minute.
Thomas Frank, though, admitted he was not yet ready to take the positives from the performance after the disappointment of their late defeat.
"It was tough. It is emotionally very tough right now," Frank told Sky Sports.
"When you are leading in the 92nd minute, and you lose, it is tough. I don't think we hit our highest level. I think on the day Fulham were better.
"There was a lot of good defending and effort, and I thought that would have given us the win. We could have won it with the chance for Fabio Carvalho and then we lost.
"When we look at the game back, and we are more cool-headed, we will probably be very happy with the defensive standard. I thought there were unbelievable blocks, and recovery runs and all that we did well. On the ball, we didn't do enough."
Fulham 2-1 Brentford: Wilson's late brace seals comeback win
Harry Wilson scored twice in stoppage time as Fulham came back to beat Brentford 2-1 in an enthralling West London derby.
Wilson was the hero from Fulham's bench on Monday, as Marco Silva's team – who were on the wrong end of a late comeback against Everton last time out in the Premier League – salvaged a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Fulham will feel it was a win they earned from a match they dominated from the off, with the Bees having taken the lead against the run of play through Vitaly Janelt's stunning 24th-minute strike.
But the Fulham pressure finally told when Wilson rose high to flick in his first in the 92nd minute, and – after Bernd Leno made a superb stop to thwart Brentford at the other end – the former Liverpool midfielder nodded in again to send Craven Cottage into raptures.
Fulham's win takes them up into ninth, while Brentford drop to 12th after suffering a fifth league loss of the season.
Data Debrief: Super-sub Wilson to the rescue
Fulham will feel they deserved to come away from that match with three points, having had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, in an incredibly dominant display.
They also had 46 touches in the opposition box compared to Brentford's nine, but they could not make those count, at least until Wilson's late intervention as he finally broke through Brentford's stubborn defence.
The Welshman scored with both of his shots on target, having three attempts overall, with his goals coming from a combined 0.19 expected goals.
The Bees looked sure to get a first away win, and first clean sheet, of the Premier League season until their late lapse in concentration, and they have now dropped 14 points from winning positions in the competition this season, more than any other team.
Neymar suffers fresh injury blow
Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.
Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.
But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.
Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.
He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
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