MARCUS RASHFORD should be very, very excited after joining Aston Villa on loan. But it's less about Villa, no disrespect to the Midlanders who are flying high, currently in the Champions League last 16 and chasing a top-four spot in the Premier League. It's more about Manchester United - once the biggest team on the planet, with the best manager, a squad of elite players and trophies coming out of their ears.

And now? The Red Devils sit 13th in the Premier League with an unproven boss in Ruben Amorim, a raft of largely overpaid and underperforming flops and no title since Sir Alex Ferguson's final season, 2012-13. On paper, things should be rosy for the red half of Manchester with lots of talented players, like Bruno Fernandes. Their ability to beat rivals to the signing of in-demand stars including Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro, Mason Mount, Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Rasmus Hojlund and many more.

The transfer of former world-beating Real Madrid star Casemiro was a particular coup at the time. There's even been an influx of talented youngsters breaking into the team, most-notably Kobbie Mainoo. So what on earth is going on at Old Trafford? How have their top transfer targets, for the most part, fizzled out and the incredible array of talent in the squad struggle so much?. Given how many managers United have gone through since Fergie left, it's starting to look less and less like the managers... and you can hardly blame the players for a 12-year slump.

CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS. What, perhaps, is most telling is how many players quit Man Utd and go on to become world-beaters once more. In recent years, we've seen the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Memphis Depay, Wilfried Zaha and Angel Di Maria - to name a few - quit United and thrive elsewhere. And the theme has continued well into this season... with Rashford the latest big-name star to jump ship, joining Aston Villa on loan until the end of the season, at least.

As we prepare for Rashford's debut for the Midlanders, SunSport takes a look at seven stars enjoying a monster season having recently quit Old Trafford. He won the Premier League in Fergie's final season, as well as two Prem Golden Gloves, five Man Utd Player of the Season gongs and five Prem Team of the Season entries. And yet by the end the Spaniard, now 34, looked a shell of his former self. A string of high-profile blunders seemed to shatter his confidence and United quickly went public in looking for a new goalkeeper - one who was better with his feet.

De Gea was released in the summer of 2023 and spent a year unemployed before Fiorentina came knocking. And ever since, the ex-Atletico Madrid stopper appears to be a man reborn and clearly loving life. After being limited to two Conference League matches to start his Viola career, De Gea has quickly become the Serie A giants' No1 and was even statistically the best shot-stopper in Europe this season until December.

You'd wager United fans would have him back between the sticks now... Smalling's 10-year spell at United did see him rack up more than 300 appearances - in which time he won two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League. But when he departed for Roma on loan in 2019, it looked as though his stock was falling - out of favour at Old Trafford and looking unlikely to ever add to his 31 England caps.

That was until he began to produce some sensational displays for the Italian giants. He permanently joined the club in 2020 and thrived even further under former Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho, helping the club to Europa Conference League glory and the Europa League final. While Smalling, 35, was never given another England look-in despite seemingly coming close, he continue to dominate in Italy before joining Saudi side Al-Fayha.

MANCHESTER UNITED'S mini-revival under Ruben Amorim came to an abrupt end as Crystal Palace ran out 2-0 winners at Old Trafford. Here's how the Red Devils stars rated on a disappointing day. Andre Onana - 5. Was left vulnerable by a shaky back-line and beaten by Lacroix's looping header, which came off the crossbar into Mateta's path. But he couldn't do much about the second goal. Leny Yoro - 5. Came in for De Ligt, who was benched. Was inches away from scoring his first United goal early on.

Did well to block Mitchell after a Mazraoui error, but his positioning was a problem later in the game. Harry Maguire - 3. Lost his battle with centre forward Mateta, who held the ball up well and got in behind every time, and was left stranded for the Frenchman's first goal. Hasn't connected with Yoro. Palace, namely Sarr, opened them both up with ease and should've buried some chances through Mateta.