Wayne Rooney believes Marcus Rashford is still the only player with the ability to surpass his all-time goalscoring record for Manchester United, provided the forward shows the right level of desire.

The England international looks set for a fresh chapter at Old Trafford this season after Barcelona decided not to make last term’s loan move permanent, with the attacker involved in Michael Carrick’s pre-season plans.

After previously appearing to seek his future away from the club — including a temporary switch to Aston Villa in 2025 — the 28-year-old has now been told by Rooney that a great deal of work is needed if he is to make his comeback a success.

“It’s just such a strange one with Marcus because I think we know he’s got the ability. I think he’s shown that,” Rooney, who scored a record 253 goals for the Red Devils, said on his new podcast Stick to United.

Rooney believes Rashford can break his record if he applies himself fully.

“For me, has he got the hunger, does he want to play for Manchester United? Now, if he wants to play for Manchester United, I think the first thing he has to do – I’ve been there in 2010 when I asked to leave the football club – he has to build a relationship with the fans.

“And the easiest way to do that is to work hard and body language. I think Marcus’ body language isn’t great, and so it might be something he has to work on. He might have to work with someone to make his body language look better.

“I think his work rate has to improve, but if he wants to be at the football club, he just needs to knuckle down. You do it, and he’s a young lad. He’s from Manchester. He’s the one player who can go and get my goalscoring record.”

Rashford, who is currently 15th on United’s all-time scoring list with 138 goals, last played for the club in December 2024 after falling out of favour under then-manager Ruben Amorim, before loan spells at Villa Park and the Nou Camp.

“I don’t want to see Marcus Rashford doing well at Aston Villa or doing well at Barcelona,” Rooney added. “I want to see him doing well at Manchester United and scoring goals for Manchester United. But that means he has to just get his head down, work his socks off, and then be more positive.

“But it’s on him. If he’s back playing for Manchester United, I think he has to have a real close look at who’s round him.

“Only he can say who the people are around him who he really trusts. Because there’s not many people you trust really. It’d be a small amount of people, keep them close to him, go into training, work hard, get himself right. If he does that, he’ll be fine.”