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What Marcus Rashford told Unai Emery in their very first conversation before Aston Villa move

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Marcus Rashford was perhaps the biggest mover in the January transfer widnow as he secured a loan move to Aston Villa.

Rashford wanted to leave Manchester United in January, and his wish was granted as Villa came in for the attacker towards the end of the month.

Rashford takes on a rather daunting task as he joins Villa as he plays for a new club for the first time in his career at the age of 27.

After so long at Manchester United, it may be a bit of a culture shock to Rashford to play for another team, but he appears to be approaching this challenge head on.

Indeed, Rashford had a phone call with Unai Emery before his move to Villa Park, and it sounds as though the England international was sending all the right messages during this conversation.

Manchester United FC v Nottingham Forest FC - Premier League
Photo by Stephen White – CameraSport via Getty Images

What Marcus Rashford told Unai Emery in his first conversation

Your first conversation with a a potential new manager can be make or break.

Mathys Tel was convinced by Ange Postecoglou to sign for Tottenham last week, while Ivan Toney didn’t impress Arsenal when he spoke to them last year.

According to The Mail, Unai Emery called Marcus Rashford before he joined Villa, and the call was seemingly very positive.

Rashford was said to be humble and focused during this discussion, while he told Emery that his only wish is to have a fresh start away from Manchester United and to play regular football again.

Rashford has barely played for United recently, and he’s keen to get going again at Villa.

Marcus Rashford Premier League stats this season
Games15
Goals4
Assists1

Rashford’s demeanour during this phone call impressed Emery, and that’s not the only thing Rashford did at Villa this week to impress staff.

Why Aston Villa staff are already pleased with Marcus Rashford

According to this report, Villa staff were pleased to see Rashford choose to take the number nine shirt upon his arrival in the Midlands.

The view within the club is that attacking players should wear ‘traditional’ numbers, and they were happy to see Rashford take the responsibility of being the number nine.

There is a storied history behind the Aston Villa number nine shirt, with the likes of Peter Withe and Andy Gray being previous occupiers of the shirt, but, in recent years, Villa’s number nines have somewhat lost their way.

Aston Villa’s recent number nines
Jhon Duran
Bertrand Traore
Danny Ings
Wesley Moraes
Scott Hogan
Scott Sinclair
Nicklas Helenius
Darren Bent
Stephen Ireland

Jhon Duran looked like he would be befitting of the number nine shirt at Villa Park for a long time, but he’s just left the club, while the players to have worn that shirt before Duran are a who’s who of struggling strikers and misfiring midfielders.

There hasn’t been a Villa number nine who has scored 20 goals in a season for a long time, and while Rashford isn’t going to achieve that in the next four months, if he signs for Villa permanently at the end of the season, he’ll be hoping to break that hoodoo.