Collymore’s column: How Marcus Rashford can reignite failing Man United career, Fulham’s master Armando Broja transfer plus my Arsenal vs. Liverpool prediction

In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including Marcus Rashford’s off-field problems, Fulham signing Armando Broja from Chelsea on Deadline Day and a look ahead to this weekend’s Premier League blockbuster between Arsenal and Liverpool.

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How Marcus Rashford can revive struggling career…

I saw the photos and videos of Marcus Rashford in the Belfast-based nightclub and I found them quite hard to look at — they were quite harrowing pictures because he looked blank behind the eyes — like he was in a really bad place, and I know exactly how that feels. He didn’t look like a guy who wanted to be in a nightclub and out drinking with his mates. He looked lost, shy and really empty.

I remember being out one night during my playing days and having a nightclub owner come up to me and ask why I was looking so down when, according to him, I ‘had it all’. The reality was, I was, unbeknown at the time, suffering from clinical depression. I’m not suggesting Rashford is experiencing the same, but I know his body language while in that club was a red flag and something that echoed my own behaviour all those years ago.

I hope the way Manchester United have handled the situation has helped him — it certainly appears to considering how he took his goal against Wolves last night but I think a lot of Rashford’s problems have stemmed from the pressure put on him to be a national hero. The free school meal program he launched during COVID was a great scheme and a lot of good came from it, but it feels like his off-field efforts have taken control of him, leaving his football secondary, and, at the end of the day, as a