Marcus Rashford’s perfect role back at Manchester United under Michael Carrick, Arsenal’s need for Julian Alvarez, and why this will not be Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup
Manchester United legend Wes Brown has backed Marcus Rashford to provide the missing piece in Michael Carrick’s jigsaw next season after Barcelona signed Anthony Gordon. Speaking to Compare.bet ahead of the 2026 World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa, Brown also gave his view on why Lionel Messi may have a greater chance of glory this summer than Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, according to Brown this may not be the last we see of the iconic pair in a World Cup tournament.
Read the full interview below.
Q: Harry Maguire will miss the World Cup this summer but is that good news for Manchester United?
Has Thomas Tuchel done Manchester United a favour by giving Harry Maguire a summer off? I don’t think Harry will say that! But getting a rest this summer and training to start the season right will be absolutely brilliant for Harry and Michael Carrick too. I’m sure he is very disappointed in not going though. Personally, I think he’s had a really good season and he’s always been a big character for England, so I can understand his disappointment too.
Tuchel is going with the players that got him to the World Cup which I think is fair enough, and sometimes the manager just doesn’t fancy you as much as the last manager. It’s hard but you have to accept it, and Harry’s been in situations like this before.
He’ll end up accepting what’s happened and go out to try and prove him wrong next season because that’s how football works, and that could be brilliant for Manchester United.
Q: Do you expect to see Harry Maguire approach next season with a point to prove?
I’ve been in the same situation as Harry Maguire this summer, missing out on the England squad, but for me it was down to injuries. I had two ACLs and especially on the second one everyone said I was pretty much done but I wasn’t done and you have to find that mental strength to push barriers and show what you’re really made of.
You want your team to play well. You want to help. You want to do that bit extra. I think that’s the sort of character Harry is.
Q: Which players do you think could earn a big move this summer based on the World Cup?
I look at Crysencio Summerville and Igor Thiago as the two players who can earn big moves at the World Cup this summer. And I’d take them both at Manchester United next season. Igor Thiago is a different player for Brazil. He’s shown what he can do in the Premier League. You can see why Carlo Ancelotti likes him. He scores goals and he’s someone you watch and think wow!
Given what’s happened to West Ham, I think Summerville will be a big target for a lot of clubs. I think Summerville has done well this season and you look at what Xherdan Shaqiri did for Liverpool after being relegated with Stoke City. If you look at Manchester United’s bench, we don’t have the options you need. To compete for the Premier League you need another eight players you can bring on. When we were winning things at United, our bench was unbelievable. You could play anyone at any time. They’d always produce.
United now are missing four or five players to add to the bench. That doesn’t mean the youngsters can’t come through too. But they’re missing quality in depth where the manager has the players to change things and get a result, and I think Summerville and Thiago offer you that.
Q: Jarrod Bowen is another player who won’t be at the World Cup. Does that make him the ideal option to replace Mohamed Salah at Liverpool?
Jarrod Bowen missing out on the World Cup could make a deal easier this summer, especially now that West Ham have gone down, and I’m guessing they will want to recoup as much money as they can from somewhere now they’ve been relegated. Whoever gets him, he’ll be a top player for them for the next few years. He’s only 29 and the way he plays, the attitude that he brings, that’s a massive asset too.
If you’re looking at the top four, it wouldn’t be Arsenal, it wouldn’t be Manchester City, it wouldn’t be Manchester United, and Liverpool have a lot of players as well to be fair but it would be a good team for him to join now they’ve lost Mohamed Salah. It’s just whether he would fit in or not with the dressing room.
Q: When you look at the squads for Argentina and Portugal, is it more likely Cristiano Ronaldo wins the World Cup for the first time this summer or are you expecting Lionel Messi to win his second?
Who has the best chance of winning the World Cup this summer between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi? It’s massive when you’ve been to a final and won it and Messi will know exactly what’s needed to go and do it again, but it could be that big last dance for both of them at a World Cup.
I think Portugal’s squad is really good but you can’t really look beyond Argentina and imagine if Messi did it again. I know Ronaldo would love to win this one and given his character and the personality that he is, he will be doing everything he can every day to get there because they’ve got a good team but I think France are the favourites. They’re so strong. But we could also see Brazil turn up and then there’s England. If they play well together, they can be favourites too. It’s going to be very interesting and I’m looking forward to it, especially if we get one last battle between Messi and Ronaldo. I think they’d both enjoy that too.
Q: Could we even see Messi and Ronaldo at the 2030 World Cup?
If anyone can play at another World Cup in 2030 when he’s 45 it’s Cristiano Ronaldo. That’s the honest truth. I don’t think I need to explain why to anyone because he just keeps on playing, keeps himself extremely fit, and if he doesn’t get any bad injuries then the only thing stopping him is his own interest and desire to keep going. That’s the big thing. Out of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, Ronaldo is your best bet to still be playing at another World Cup in four years’ time, but you could also see Messi dropping back deeper and deeper like Paul Scholes did, so long as someone can do all his running for him!
Q: With Anthony Gordon making his move to Barcelona, is the stage now set for Marcus Rashford to make a U-turn and return to Manchester United next season?
Anthony Gordon to Barcelona was a bit of a shock to everyone, but especially to Marcus Rashford. There was a deal there for Rashy and then they go and sign Gordon who plays in the same position. Rashy still has a year left at United. There’s a new manager in charge. I’m sure Michael Carrick will speak to him at some point. Then it comes down to where the two of them are at.
I think Rashy feels it’s probably not right to come back to United. He’ll try and go somewhere else and I think everyone will have to accept it either way so long as it’s on the manager’s terms. That’s the main thing. I don’t think Rashy has any bad feelings toward Michael but he’s going to try and do the best thing that’s right for him, and maybe that’s another club coming in for him from another club.
Speaking as a Manchester United fan and a former Manchester United player I wouldn’t mind it if Rashford comes back. I always want the best players playing for United. I want them at the club. If Marcus did come back, I don’t think he would want to sit on the bench. He wants to be starting, and I think Michael is fair to his players.
If you’re playing really well, you stay on. He did that with Amad at the beginning when he came and then we saw him stick with Benjamin Sesko when he hit form. I think it’s fair and that’s the sort of competition you need. If Rashford was up for that, fighting for his place, then I think it’d be really good to see him back at United but he’ll have to feel it out and it’ll be very interesting to see what comes of it in the next few weeks.
Q: Arsenal have also been linked as suitors to Rashford. How painful would that be to see him in an Arsenal shirt?
Would it hurt to see Marcus Rashford in an Arsenal shirt next season? Yes and no. He’s already played for Aston Villa and Barcelona so it wouldn’t feel like he’d be going straight there, and that’s a little bit different. He’s not played for Manchester United for a good few years. Danny Welbeck leaving United to join Arsenal was the one that hurt because he was so young and I don’t think he wanted to go. It was down to Louis van Gaal. I think it would be a little bit different for Marcus. It’d be weird to see him in an Arsenal shirt but I thought that when I saw him playing for Aston Villa too.
Q: Some people are disappointed Danny Welbeck didn’t make the England squad this summer. How good of a player has he become?
Danny Welbeck is brilliant. He had a lot of injuries at the beginning of his career but he’s sorted that out now, which is good, and he’s just continuing to play on and on and on. He had real talent coming through at Manchester United, it was just the injuries that stopped him getting a run at Arsenal, and at the big teams it’s always hard. You need a good run to settle everything down.
Q: If you could speak to Marcus Rashford, what advice would you give him?
What could I say to Marcus Rashford this summer? Listen, when you get to that age, things can happen in football, and conversations happen where people think one thing but they don’t know the reality of what’s happened or what’s been said. It all depends on what’s been said before and what’s being said now, and sometimes things really can just be mutual. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Q: What could Jadon Sancho still achieve in the game if he gets the right move after leaving Manchester United?
What’s next for Jadon Sancho? When he went back to Borussia Dortmund on loan it looked like he was getting it back together but he fell off again but listen he’s still only 26 and you wish him all the best and hope he’s good in his own mind and body because it’s a tough situation. Some players handle it better than others. Being a free agent makes it a little bit easier but you still have to go out there and prove yourself. Teams aren’t necessarily phoning your agent every day, every second. But if Jack Grealish gets another chance at Manchester City, why not Everton for Jadon Sancho?
I’m not saying they’re similar players but the way they take the ball and carry it you could arguably say that Sancho could be the one for Everton if a permanent move for Grealish doesn’t happen, but it’s a gamble. He’s certainly an option this summer.
Q: How exciting is it to see Jesse Lingard enjoying himself out in Brazil?
I think Jesse Lingard is enjoying it in Brazil and I think when you get to that age, as long as you’re enjoying it, it’s the best feeling ever. I’m sure if a Premier League team came in, he’d have a look at it, but he went to Korea, he enjoyed that, and now he’s in Brazil and it is completely different. I went abroad very late and I loved it and it made me think that maybe I should have done that earlier.
It’s not all about going to big massive clubs although Corinthians are a very big club, by the way, but it’s more about enjoying your football and the journey that your career takes you on. I look out for their results every weekend because of Lingard.
Could that experience abroad help Jesse Lingard to give something back as a coach for Manchester United someday? Maybe. You never know. It depends what route he goes down. A lot of people really want to get into management or coaching and some players don’t want to stay in the game. It’s as simple as that. They just move away from football.
But I really like to see players moving into coaching. It’s a good thing. And I think owners are keen to give the younger lads a chance to jump into these roles and give them more control earlier on in their careers than in the past.
Q: What do Manchester United need to do this summer to give Michael Carrick the players to challenge for the title?
Manchester United need another striker alongside Benjamin Sesko if they’re going to win the Premier League under Michael Carrick. We had four strikers when we won the treble. We had three when we won the Premier League and the Champions League in 2008. They were all top strikers too and you need that.
I like the defence at the moment. I think everyone’s battling for places when fit and I think the manager would give everyone a chance but there’s so many good players there including Ayden Heaven so I think centre-back is one position where United are OK right now.
They’ve only got Luke Shaw at left-back and they need to look at that and obviously Diogo Dalot at right-back too so both full-back positions could do with some attention along with the midfield. I’d love to see United sign Morgan Gibbs-White this summer and Adam Wharton probably won’t cost as much as Elliot Anderson, and I’d love to see Wharton really challenge himself now he’s won things with Crystal Palace. I think if Marcus Rashford came back it would be perfect down that left-hand side, and the squad starts to get stronger and stronger.
Q: Do Michael Carrick and Steve Holland need to show something else next season if Manchester United are going to meet expectations?
Will we see a different version of Manchester United next season from Michael Carrick? I think there’s going to be a few changes. This season when he came in, he needed to do what he did with the players he had and that meant playing on the counter, and it was actually good for us in the sense of stopping the team letting in goals and letting the wingers and forwards loose on teams. They got the ball forward as quickly as possible and that was a world of difference to what we saw under Ruben Amorim. He had United playing slow in the build up which is fine but it didn’t quite work for the team.
I think Carrick made the change he needed to make and I think that’s what you need from managers at times. I’m sure if he gets a few of his own players in,he can always go back to trying something different.
Q: Now Anthony Gordon has been sold, will Newcastle United be able to keep hold of Bruno Guimarães and Sandro Tonali despite Manchester United’s interest?
Can Newcastle United keep hold of Bruno Guimarães and Sandro Tonali now they’ve sold Anthony Gordon? I think they have to. They struggled this season after selling Alexander Isak. That was a massive loss for them, especially with how it happened. Most of their goals came from him, not just because he scored the goals. He brought a lot of threat to the team. When he left, they lost more than a goalscorer. It’s going to be a big season for them, really, and I think Eddie Howe understands that as well.
But it also means obviously with that money coming in now from selling Gordon, you can have a good look at what you need and where you need to boost to take advantage next season.
Q: Is Cristian Romero talented enough to be worth the risk for Manchester United this summer or is he too much of a loose cannon?
I think Christian Romero is a good player. He is a bit crazy but I think, even as a centre-half, there’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is, unless we sell someone, I don’t think there’s any room for him at Manchester United. That’s my honest view. We’ve got Ayden Heaven, Harry Maguire, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez. I don’t think you need any more than that, and I think we’d do very well to keep them all as well this season, and that’s only true because they all want to play.
Is Matthijs de Ligt the odd one out? Possibly but I don’t think it works like that. I don’t think De Ligt is going anywhere because he’s injured, and that’s the problem you have. You might want to bring in a player like Romero but it’s not as easy as that.
Q: Do Manchester United face the same issue in signing Mickey Van De Ven, especially given the other clubs interested?
Will clubs like Liverpool have a free run on Mickey Van De Ven if Manchester United don’t move for him? I just think we have too many centre-backs at the moment and at least four of them are recognised international players with only two positions to fill so it’s really difficult. That might change if someone left but who’s going to go? Football doesn’t work like that.
Mickey Van De Ven has had a really tough season at Tottenham Hotspur but as an individual, teams will be looking at him.
