The Manchester United academy graduate has shone in the Red Devils' first team since making his debut in 2016. He has made over 400 appearances for the side, scoring 135 goals.
But it hasn’t always been straightforward for Rashford under the intense Old Trafford spotlight. He has endured difficult spells of form and lost his England place due to inconsistent performances.
His relationship with under-fire boss Ten Hag has also been at the heart of debate, with the Dutchman making a number of baffling decisions. Another one of those came against Porto on Thursday night. Take a look at what has happened between the two ever since Ten Hag’s arrival at the club:
After scoring just five goals the season before Ten Hag took the reins at Old Trafford, the pressure was on for the Dutchman to draw out performances from his forward. The first question he needed to answer was to find Rashford’s best position.
After playing him both centrally and on the left during pre-season, Ten Hag came to the decision that he would be best served playing in a combination of the two. Speaking in 2022, he said: ''He can play there, as he can stretch across all the three positions, and he can score goals in each [of them]. 'The best position for [Marcus] Rashford is the number nine or coming in from the left.”
And that decision appeared to pay instant dividends throughout the 2022/23 season. He netted 30 goals in all competitions that season, surpassing the 100-goal landmark for the club.
As a result, Rashford was named the club’s Player of the Year. But there were early signs of issues between the forward and his manager.
He was dropped for a clash against Wolves in December for oversleeping and missing a team meeting. Speaking at the time, he said: "I was a little bit late for a meeting - I overslept.
"It's the team rules and it's a mistake that can happen, but I'm disappointed not to play, but I understand the decision and I'm happy that we managed to win the game anyway. I think we can draw a line under it and move on.”
Rashford however redeemed himself by scoring the winning goal in that game, and went on to have no further issues throughout the campaign.
Following his stellar campaign, the Red Devils made the smart move of tying him down. Amid links with Paris Saint-Germain, Rashford penned a bumper new deal that runs until 2028 and is reportedly now earns around £325k-per-week.
But that contract appeared to have the opposite effect intended as the striker’s form slumped. He scored on just eight occasions throughout the campaign, with his form seeing him lose out on a place in the England squad for the Euros.
It was not just his displays that left many concerned. Following a 3-0 defeat to fierce rivals Manchester City, he was spotted at a birthday party. Speaking at the time, Ten Hag said: "I am aware of it [the party] and I spoke with him about it. It's unacceptable. I told him, he apologised and that is it. For us it's an internal matter."
He was then benched for the following game - a League Cup defeat to Newcastle. And despite Ten Hag believing Rashford was determined to make amends, things did not get much better.
He was controversially sent off in a chaotic Champions League defeat to Copenhagen just days later. There was then another indiscretion in January after Rashford missed training ahead of an FA Cup victory against Newport.
He had called in sick but was then spotted out in Northern Ireland. Gary Neville expressed his concern for the forward.
"I would say go out and have your moment where you relax with your friends but your timing has to be right," the former Red Devils defender said. "Marcus himself knows, he's an experienced player now. We're not talking about a young lad but he's done it a couple of times in the past few months.
"I've always seen Marcus has being really responsible, a good professional and someone who works hard every single day. I know he's going through a dip in form at this moment in time but it's happened twice and it can sometimes become your personality if you're not careful.
"He just needs to relax, calm down, choose when to go out and get back to playing football at the levels we know he can."
After a poor 2023-24 campaign, Rashford would certainly have been keen to make an impression but it has been a difficult start to the season. The 26-year-old started the first four league games of the campaign, scoring his first goal in a 3-0 win against Southampton.
But he then found himself on the bench against Crystal Palace. Jamie Redknapp hinted at something occurring behind the scenes, something that triggered a furious reaction from Ten Hag.
In a press conference, he said: “I heard already speculation from some pundits. That is crazy. I would almost say that, as a person, you are not OK when you bring such speculation if you don’t know.”
He then added: “I didn’t understand the criticism. People are entitled if they want to, but what they are not entitled to do is to bring speculation. If I give an explanation they have to trust my words. If they don’t, that’s not right.”
Rashford soon regained his place in the side but Ten Hag was then facing even more questions after this week's disappointing draw with Porto. Despite scoring, Rashford was substituted at half-time.
Since then, there has been more concern that something has occurred behind the scenes. Ex-United star Paul Scholes said: “I thought he had turned a corner. I thought it was a really strange decision to leave him out of the Palace game.
“When a lad has been struggling for confidence for such a long time and then he actually scores, two in one game and one in another, and then is just left out, when you think he’s got his spark back, then you have to question whether Marcus has been behaving properly or whether the manager has got a big decision wrong. Just when you think he’s back and firing again, his confidence looks low again and you’re back to square one.”
It remains to be seen whether Rashford will earn a recall into the side this weekend. The Red Devils take on Aston Villa in a game that looks crucial for Ten Hag. He might be doing himself a favour and relieving a headache by restoring Rashford to the side.
