Marcus Rashford is all the more motivated to get Manchester United back to the top by seeing the eye-catching success of rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.
After stumbling home sixth at the end of a tumultuous Premier League season, the 20-time champions are in the midst of a rebuilding job as they look to compete for major trophies under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Plenty of work is required to achieve that, but Rashford is determined to return United to the summit of the English game, having earlier this month signed a new four-year deal with the option of a further season.
“I think the mood is how it should be, really,” the England forward said. “Everyone’s positive.
“We know that last season wasn’t good enough, but we’ve put it behind us and we’ve worked harder than ever to try and put things right and going into the season that’s what we’ll be looking to do.
“For me, it’s always been a goal of mine to help the club get back to where they were and what we all know as Manchester United.
“So, the decision (to sign a new deal) wasn’t a hard decision because I don’t feel like we’ve done that.
“Not only me, that’s something the dressing room shares, and everyone’s looking forward to trying to get that dream done.”
And for academy graduate Rashford, the hurt of seeing rivals City dominate domestically and Liverpool lift the Champions League fuels him even further.
“For me (it makes me more motivated), yeah,” he said at the WACA in Perth.
“That makes putting United back to where they were even a bigger challenge.
“You know, you never shy away from a challenge, so it’s important that we face it head on.
“What’s happened has happened and we have to move forward as a team.”
Rashford was the first United player to speak to the mass media since the squad returned for pre-season training, with a double session on United’s first full day in Perth meaning the forward feels in much better shape than this time last year.
The 21-year-old says the sessions have been “quite tough” and morale is good, despite speculation about key players and even talk of a bust-up between Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard, something Solskjaer dismissed out of hand.
It is not the first time Lingard has been under the spotlight this summer, with videos from his holiday with Rashford and their friends leading to criticism and scrutiny.
One in particular led to widespread criticism, with the attacking midfielder heard swearing before a friend is seen simulating having sex inside their hotel.
Lingard is believed to have meant to save the video rather than posting it on Snapchat and Rashford has defended his United team-mate.
“I’ve not spoken to the manager about it,” he said.
“But from what I’ve seen of it, people have to understand that he was enjoying his holiday and it was a mistake, you know, so there’s not really much I can say about that.”
