Sports
Escape from Old Trafford: Højlund, Rashford latest stars to shine since leaving Man United
Though they may not quite be the all-conquering force they once were, there is still a sense of honor that comes with being a Manchester United player, coupled with an intense pressure to meet the high standards demanded by fans.
While certain players flourish in those conditions, many have wilted under the stresses, fallen out of favor or simply been unable to muscle into the starting XI only to find themselves occupying the sub’s bench week in, week out.
However, while some have seen their careers come to an abrupt standstill at United, there is a noted phenomenon in football circles known as the “post-United bounce,” where a number of players have successfully escaped their Old Trafford purgatory and almost immediately rediscovered their form elsewhere.
While the grass isn’t always necessarily greener, this season alone we’ve seen the likes of Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Højlund and André Onana join the ranks of players who have departed the Premier League giants at a low ebb before enjoying an instant upturn in fortunes after a fresh start.
Those three aren’t the only big names to benefit from the post-United bounce either, with an ever-lengthening list of players experiencing a similar turnaround in the relatively fallow seasons that have elapsed since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager.
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2025-26
Marcus Rashford
Patchy form and a dip in morale saw Rashford made available for loan by his boyhood club at the start of the year, with Aston Villa first taking the plunge for the second half of last term before Barcelona weighed in by taking the England forward on a seasonlong deal in the summer.
The 27-year-old already looks like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and the swagger is visibly returning. He has made a decent start to life in Catalonia, with three goals and four assists in his first 10 games for Barça, including an impressive two-goal salvo against Newcastle United in the Champions League which earned him a standing ovation from the home faithful.
1:03
Amorim: The pressure of playing for Man Utd was difficult for Onana
Ruben Amorim talks about the pressure of playing for Manchester United following confirmation of Andre Onana’s loan move to Trabzonspor.
André Onana
A figure of derision under Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, goalkeeper Onana was responsible for a string of handling and positioning errors in big games that eventually saw him lose his first-choice designation before ultimately being allowed to leave the club.
The Cameroon international signed for Trabzonspor on loan for the 2025-26 campaign and kicked things off by being named the man of the match on debut for the Turkish club despite them falling to a 1-0 loss. He then upped the ante by registering an assist in his second outing by laying on the equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Gaziantep FK.
Rasmus Højlund
A dearth of goals last season saw Højlund left out of the United squad altogether at the start of the 2025-26 campaign until Napoli came to his rescue in September with the offer of a return to Italy.
After mustering four Premier League goals last season, the 22-year-old Denmark striker took just 14 minutes to score his first for the Partenopei and has now produced four goals in his first six games for the club, including a brace in a 2-1 Champions League victory over Sporting CP and the winner against Genoa just before the October international break.
2024-25
Scott McTominay
McTominay sealed a surprise move to Napoli in the summer of 2024 after finding his game time limited under Ten Hag the previous season.
The Scotland midfielder then proceeded to win the Serie A title and be crowned the league MVP in his debut season in Italy while becoming a cult hero among Napoli fans by virtue of his tireless work rate, intense physical play, and of course his knack of scoring important goals in clutch situations.
2:11
Why Antony felt disrespected at Manchester United
Real Betis winger Antony reflects on the end of his tough time at Manchester United.
Antony
Signed by Ten Hag from former club Ajax in an £82 million deal that made him United’s third-most expensive player of all time, Antony unfortunately misfired in England and quickly became a target for derision after routinely failing to make any impact in games while desperately running through his repertoire of superfluous skills.
After two largely unproductive seasons at Old Trafford, the Brazil winger joined Real Betis on loan for the latter half of the 2024-25 season and was immediately reborn, with nine goals in 26 games and a nomination for the LaLiga player of the month award after just a few weeks in Spain, and he has now moved to Seville on a permanent basis.
2023-24
Dean Henderson
A product of the United academy, Henderson was on the books at his boyhood club between 2015 and 2023 but managed just 13 games in all competitions. Following a succession of loans up and down the Football League, the goalkeeper signed for Crystal Palace on a permanent deal in August 2023 before going on to win the FA Cup and make his England senior debut during his second season at Selhurst Park.
David De Gea
The second goalkeeper to leave United in 2023-24, former stalwart De Gea saw his 12-year stint come to an underwhelming end when his contract was allowed to expire and he was released without much in the way of fanfare. The former Spain No. 1 then remained a free agent for the entire campaign before ending his extended sabbatical by joining Fiorentina in August 2024. With penalties saved and clean sheets kept, the 34-year-old then played an important role in helping La Viola qualify for Europe (via the Conference League) in his maiden season.
2019-20 and 2020-21
The Inter Milan Exodus
Thanks to a tricky regime change at United, a sizeable number of high-earning and/or underperforming players were cleared out to make room for fresh blood in the squad.
This considerable exodus saw a number of players join Inter Milan just in time to fuel the Nerazzurri’s charge to the 2020-21 Serie A title with a good number of said players still in situ when they won the Italian top flight again in 2023-24.
Indeed, Romelu Lukaku (2020-21), Ashley Young (2020-21), Alexis Sánchez (2020-21, 2023-24), Matteo Darmian (2021-22, 2023-24) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (2023-24) all claimed major honors with Inter after leaving Old Trafford, and also played in Champions League and Europa League finals for the club too.
After having his ability to lead the line for United repeatedly brought into question, Lukaku was voted Serie A MVP in 2020-21 and finished second behind Cristiano Ronaldo in the scoring charts. Lukaku then won his second Italian league title at Napoli last season.
Chris Smalling
Smalling also left United for Italy around that time, initially on loan to Roma for the 2019-20 season before the deal was made permanent the following summer.
The center back was an instant success at the Giallorossi and even emerged as a European champion when they won the Conference League in 2021-22 under José Mourinho’s guidance. Smalling was voted man of the match in that final against Feyenoord and was included in the UEFA team of the tournament — a feat he then repeated the following year when Roma finished runners-up in the Europa League.
2018-19
Daley Blind
A fairly reliable and versatile defensive option for United, Blind enjoyed success during his four years at Old Trafford by winning an FA Cup in 2015-16 and then the Carabao Cup and Europa League in 2016-17.
However, despite being seen as something of a fading force on his United exit, the Netherlands international kicked on by returning to boyhood club Ajax to claim three more Eredivisie titles and two KNVB Cups before spending a single season with Bayern Munich and lifting the Bundesliga shield in 2022-23. The 35-year-old veteran is still going too, and is currently in his third season with Spanish side Girona.
2016-17
Memphis Depay
It’s fair to say that Depay failed to fully ignite at United under Louis van Gaal, with an underwhelming 18-month spell at Old Trafford coming to an end in January 2017 when he signed for Lyon in a permanent deal.
Still only 22 at the time, the Dutch forward’s career soon began to gather momentum and he technically won LaLiga with Barcelona in 2022-23 (though left the club halfway through the season after making just four appearances) to join Atlético Madrid. However, Depay has been a bona fide league winner in recent months, taking the Brazilian Serie A title with Corinthians in 2025.
2015-16
Ángel Di María
With stints at Benfica and Real Madrid already under his belt, Di María was recognized as one of the most skillful playmaking wingers in the world when he signed for United in August 2014 in a huge deal worth almost £60 million — the highest transfer fee ever paid by a British club at the time.
Unfortunately despite early promise, a failure to settle in England, untimely injuries and a dramatic oscillation in form saw Di María regularly squeezed out of the first team under Van Gaal and it all came to an end after 12 months when Paris Saint-Germain offered to rectify the situation in the summer of 2025. The nimble Argentina star duly went on to win a domestic quadruple in his debut season before adding a further 15 major honors to his collection during the seven years he spent in Paris — also winning the FIFA World Cup and two Copa Américas with Argentina.
At the grand old age of 37, Di María is still playing in Argentina with his boyhood club, Rosario Central.
2014-15
Wilfried Zaha
Something of a poster boy for the false start of the post-Alex Ferguson era at United, Crystal Palace star Zaha was actually signed by Fergie in January 2013 but had his move delayed until the following summer, by which time the legendary Scot had retired and been replaced at the helm by protégé David Moyes.
Zaha made just two appearances under Moyes, who sent the young winger out on loan to Cardiff City for the second half of the 2013-14 campaign. Without making a single league start for United, the 22-year-old then returned to Palace in 2014-15, initially on a season-long loan and soon found his ridiculously quick feet again, immediately re-establishing his “fan favourite” status at Selhurst Park while subsequently hitting the best form of his career in the Premier League, carrying the Eagles for several seasons and winning the club player of the year award in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.
LIVERPOOL, England — Liverpool needed that. After a season of turmoil, Liverpool needed Virgil van Dijk to rise the highest. They needed Mohamed Salah to conjure up just one more magical moment. They needed a reason to believe.
The defense of their Premier League title has largely been a campaign without joy for Arne Slot’s side, with reserves of hope seeming to dwindle by the week. But with Liverpool there is always a chance, and when the chance came against Everton — this time in the 100th minute – — Van Dijk seized it with the fearlessness and fortitude of a player who knew there were more than just three points on the line.
It was fitting that, as Liverpool faced off against Everton in the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium, Arsenal and Manchester City were preparing to star in this weekend’s main event over at the Etihad. That Liverpool were only the warmup act to this season’s title decider should and will sting for the reigning champions — but a last-gasp 2-1 win at the home of their local rivals will go some way to soothing the pain.
Make no mistake, this was not Liverpool at their ebullient best — far from it. But Slot’s side did, at least, show the grit and character that has evaded it for too much of this torrid campaign and, in doing so, inflicted yet more misery on an Everton team many had regarded as the favorite going into this encounter.
The prematch scenes on Merseyside left little doubt about how much this meant for Everton supporters. They lined the streets with flares and flags to greet the team coach before unfurling an impressive tifo banner as the players readied themselves for action.
The energy in the stands transmitted instantly to the players on the pitch, and Everton hassled and harried their opponents with the fervor of a team smelling blood. Certainly, Liverpool went into Sunday’s game as a wounded beast, having bowed out of the UEFA Champions League with a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, in the process of which they also lost striker Hugo Ekitike to a serious Achilles injury.
So when the lively Iliman Ndiaye found the back of the Liverpool net inside 27 minutes, it seemed as if yet another miserable prophecy were set to be fulfilled. Perhaps, though, the fates were smiling on Slot’s side, with a VAR intervention sparing the Reds’ blushes and offering them a platform to show their mettle.
Just 66 seconds later, Liverpool were ahead thanks to the brilliance of Salah, who slotted coolly past Jordan Pickford after a superb pass from Cody Gakpo. All of a sudden, it was as if the blue mist had lifted.
Salah beamed as he stood before the euphoric away end, having just tied Steven Gerrard for the most goals scored by a Liverpool player in Premier League Merseyside derbies (nine). It has not been a vintage Salah season by any stretch of the imagination — and it will be his last — but the sight of the Egypt international being “crowned” by teammate Curtis Jones after carving out another slice of history seemed like a poignant footnote in one of the all-time great Anfield careers.
Liverpool, though, did not have it all their own way. So often this term, they seem to have conspired to make life hard for themselves, and they did so again when some lackadaisical defending allowed the in-form Beto to dispatch a smart Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall delivery early in the second half. It was Beto’s sixth goal involvement in as many games, with his instinctive finish once more lighting the blue touchpaper inside Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Liverpool’s anguish was compounded by the sight of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili leaving the pitch on a stretcher in the immediate aftermath of the goal, having sustained what Slot later described as a “big wound” to a leg. His replacement, Freddie Woodman, could hardly have asked for a more daunting arena in which to make his Premier League debut for the club, but the former Preston North End man stood firm, and so did his teammates. Liverpool were not electrifying, but they did not need to be.
Instead, they made life difficult for Everton, who never quite managed to wrestle back the momentum they had enjoyed during the early stages of this contest. And when, in the dying minutes of stopping time, Dominik Szoboszlai swung an enticing corner kick into the Everton box, Van Dijk was there to apply the finishing touch.
The Dutchman’s thumping header helped yield a victory that bolsters Liverpool’s hopes of Champions League qualification, with the Reds now seven points clear of sixth-place Chelsea with just five games left to play. More importantly, though, Van Dijk’s goal recaptured something intangible for Liverpool; the feeling that they should never quite be written off.
“It’s a privilege to represent this club and today they showed what it means to the players to represent this club,” Slot said in his postmatch news conference. “And the fans were, as they’ve been throughout the whole season, a big, big, big support for us. And to beat them then in the first game in their new stadium after what I just said, the week we had, is an enormous compliment to everybody involved in Liverpool FC.”
For Slot, the full-time whistle must have felt like a release valve — a rare moment to stop and exhale in a breathlessly bewildering season that has prompted endless speculation over his future. For those in the away end, too, this was an afternoon to savor.
As the home fans filed out of the stadium, the Liverpool supporters launched into a defiant chorus of “Champions, champions.” With the end of the campaign firmly on the horizon, their chances to air that refrain are now few and far between.
On Sunday, though, Liverpool seized their chance. How they needed it.
Lionel Messi had two goals, including a stunning 79th-minute winner, to give Inter Miami a victory in new interim coach Guillermo Hoyos’ first match in charge Saturday.
Mexico striker Germán Berterame also scored as Miami beat the Colorado Rapids 3-2 in front of a crowd of 75,824 — the second-highest attendance in MLS history — at Empower Field at Mile High.
It was Miami’s first game since Javier Mascherano stepped down as coach Tuesday, just four months after guiding the club to its first MLS Cup title.
Hoyos, whose relationship with Messi dates back to his time working at Barcelona’s renowned La Masia academy more than 20 years ago, was put in charge of the first team for “the upcoming matches,” moving over from his current role of sporting director.
“It has been a beautiful experience because there are players of immense quality here including the greatest player in history,” Hoyos said in a news conference.
“I was excited on many occasions, because football truly is all about that emotion and passion.”
Messi opened the scoring when he converted a penalty kick in the 13th minute, before his late go-ahead goal. After a Colorado turnover near midfield, Messi cut back near the right corner of the penalty box and struck a rising shot that split a pair of defenders and slipped inside the back post.
Messi has seven goals this season, tied with Sam Surridge and Petar Musa for most in MLS.
Asked how he approaches coaching his fellow Argentine and the record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, Hoyos responded: “The best coach in the world is actually out there on the pitch. We coaches are merely guides.”
Miami (4-1-3) is now seven games unbeaten and hasn’t lost since a season-opening 3-0 defeat to LAFC.
Miami midfielder Yannick Bright was shown a straight red card in the 87th minute for using “offensive, insulting, abusive language heard by the referee,” the Professional Referee Organization, which oversees MLS referees, confirmed to ESPN. According to the PRO pool report, Bright used the phrase b—- ass n—a.”
“Honestly, I don’t know, and I was certainly surprised, by the sending off,” Hoyos said when asked about the reason for the expulsion.
Bright drew a penalty conceded by Joshua Atencio, and Messi converted from the spot to open the scoring.
Mateo Silvetti, along the right end line, played an arcing cross to the back post, where Berterame slammed home a header to make it 2-0 in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Berterame scored his first MLS goal last time out in a 2-2 tie with the New York Red Bulls.
Rafael Navarro scored in the 58th minute for the Rapids. The 26-year-old forward scored two goals in last week’s 6-2 win over Houston and has six goals this season.
Darren Yapi subbed on for Hamzat Ojediran and, moments later, scored on the counterattack to make it 2-2 in the 62nd minute.
ESPN’s Lizzy Becherano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
After a massive night of high-flying moments and title changes on Night 1, the WrestleMania 42 action continues on Night 2 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Two of the biggest superstars on the roster, literally, square off in the first match of the night, as “The Ruler” Oba Femi attempts to slay “The Beast” Brock Lesnar. Also on the card is a six-man ladder match for the men’s Intercontinental Championship, and a pair of singles matches for the United States Championship and the WWE Women’s Championship.
In the main event, CM Punk puts the World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Roman Reigns.
Follow along with every moment of WrestleMania Night 2.
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