Marcus Rashford labels Erik ten Hag’s pre-season at Manchester United as one of the ‘toughest’

Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has revealed just how gruelling their pre-season has been this summer.

The Red Devils enjoyed a successful season under Erik ten Hag in his debut year at Old Trafford.

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After a six-year wait, the Dutchman was on hand to bring silverware to the club thanks to their Carabao Cup success.

Rivals Manchester City approach the new campaign as reigning Premier League champions and treble winners.

United will therefore be gunning to challenge them for the crown in the coming months, with pre-season the perfect chance to prepare.

Ten Hag hasn’t been shy to put his stars through their paces as Rashford opened up to Gary Neville on The Overlap in partnership with Sky Bet on just how difficult training has been.

“Erik’s pre-season is one of the toughest, running wise but we also do a lot of passing drills and it’s a lot of mental concentration and when you’re already physically tired, it’s difficult to concentrate for long periods of time.

“We usually do ball work in between, so we’ll do a technical 20–30-minute session, and then we’ll go into maybe 8 or 10 blocks of box to boxes or shorter intensity runs.

“And then we’ll go back into technical stuff. It’s not actually a tough session, but when you do it in the heat of the places that we’re training in, it’s challenging. But I’ve enjoyed it, I turned up to pre-season in good shape.”

Although Rashford may well have been truly tested throughout the summer, he also expressed how important pre-season is for him.

“In this pre pre-season period, it’s about getting back up to speed before I want to go back into pre-season. A lot of it has to do with the physical aspects but also, when I go back into pre-season, I enjoy everyone being back together again.

“We’ve been away from each other for a while. I don’t want to go back into pre-season and be dying every day. It’s good to get back, I usually do it every year to get back into shape.

“Last year I had more time off, so I could do more of the training camp, so I did two weeks in total. 10 days of ball work, running and gym, then four days before [pre-season] of just getting back to speed.

“I had the time to do everything that I needed to tick off and I felt really well-rounded going into preseason. I wanted to be in that position this season as well, so it’s important for me to come here and get the work in.

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“I’ve done a slightly shorter camp this time, I’ve only done eight days of continuous training.”

Rashford is yet to score during pre-season but having netted 30 times last term, he is likely to prove clinical up front once again for United in the new campaign.

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