Giggs Reveals Guardiola Once Called Rashford Man United's Best Player

Ryan Giggs says Pep Guardiola once told him Marcus Rashford was the best player at Manchester United and that he would sign him "tomorrow" if he could.

Giggs shared the story on the show Rio Ferdinand Presents: The Debrief, saying the chat happened at a dinner hosted by Sir Alex Ferguson around eight or nine years ago, back when Rashford was still a young player breaking through at United.

Giggs said he was sitting next to Guardiola, who was managing Manchester City at the time, and decided to ask him directly which United player impressed him the most.

"I've gone to Pep and said, 'Who do you like at United?'" Giggs said. "He went, 'Well, who do you think?' So I went, 'De Gea?' He went, 'No.' 'Luke Shaw?' 'No.' He said, 'The best player at Man United, Marcus Rashford. I would take him tomorrow.' And I went, 'Oh, right, okay.' And that just made me think, what's he seeing, Pep? And that was obviously as a centre-forward."

Rashford broke into the United first team under Louis van Gaal back in February 2016. He scored twice on his Europa League debut against FC Midtjylland, then followed that up with two more goals against Arsenal just three days later. He soon became a regular starter and earned his first England call up later that year.

Since then, Rashford's form has dipped and he has spent time away from the club on two separate loan spells. Now he is trying to work his way back into Michael Carrick's plans.

Giggs was asked what Rashford needs to do to win the fans back over, and he said it comes down to more than just scoring goals.

"Assists. Goals. But also you need to do the, you need, that will get the fans, that will get the fans because forget the other stuff, they'll forgive you for, you know, dribbling and get tackled or, you know, hitting a shot over," Giggs said. "Not all the time, obviously, but they won't forgive you for not tracking back. They just won't. And I love Marcus and I want him to do well."

Giggs admitted he had doubts about Rashford returning to the club given the pressure that always seems to follow him. "I wasn't sure if it was right for him to come back because just the whole hype, it always seems to be around Marcus, and it's a lot of pressure for him," he said. "But he's got the talent. You know, he was running at players. He was tracking back. Games, just do that. Do that for a season. You will be a superstar."

He also stressed how much United fans value effort and hard running, especially from a winger.

"I can't tell you how important that tracking back and winning that tackle is. As a winger for Man United, the crowd will go mad," Giggs said. "The crowd will be back on your side. You haven't touched the ball for 10 minutes and you track back and win a tackle. It's huge."

Giggs finished by pointing out that wide play does not come naturally to Rashford, who started out as more of a central striker. "There's no doubt in his ability. And again, go back to what I originally said. It doesn't come naturally to him because he's not an actual wide man. He's had to learn, sort of, the position," he said. "And like you used to say, assists, goals are really important. But also don't forget that dirty work where you have to sprint back, not jog back, sprint back and win the ball back."