Aston Villa loanee Marcus Rashford is continuing his recovery work in Dubai after suffering a hamstring injury last week.
The 27-year-old was ruled out of our FA Cup semi-final clash with Crystal Palace last weekend after sustaining the setback, and initial reports suggested that his season may well be over.
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With his loan deal set to expire at the end of the campaign, Rashford has potentially already played his last game in a Villa shirt after what has been a productive stint thus far, but it remains to be seen how his rehabilitation work progresses in the next week or so to determine if he has an outside chance of featuring again.
As per a video posted on his official Instagram account, the England international can be seen being put through his paces in the gym in what is reportedly Dubai, and so the hope is that he’ll make a recovery in time to have an impact for Unai Emery before he returns to Manchester United this summer.
It seems highly doubtful though in truth as he faces a race against time given he is ineligible to face his parent club in our final fixture of the campaign, and so the visit of Tottenham on May 18 could be his last shot.
Rashford has contributed four goals and six assists in 17 appearances for Villa, and it seems as though those will be the final tallies before he departs.
That in turn leaves the responsibility of leading the Villa line and firing in goals consistently on Ollie Watkins’ shoulders, and after expressing his frustration last month over his limited role, he’ll now have a chance to make his point as to why he should never have been dropped in those key games by playing a pivotal role in our pursuit of Champions League qualification in these final games.
As for Rashford, Villa have a decision to make over his future given we hold an option to buy in the loan agreement, but time will tell if both parties wish to make the move permanent in the summer, with much likely riding on our ability to secure a top-five finish.
