Manchester Utd & England star Marcus Rashford takes aim at UK tabloid over ‘luxury property portfolio’ article

Marcus Rashford has hit out at the Mail on Sunday after the tabloid ran a story on the footballer's property investments. The Mail has been accused of attempting a subtle slight on the popular Manchester United star's reputation.

The Mail Online ran a story on Sunday headlined 'What a result! Campaigning football star Marcus Rashford has bought five luxury homes worth more than £2million', in which writers Andy Buckwell and Max Aitchison revealed that Manchester United forward Rashford had been on a property spending spree in the past three months. 

"It follows revelations in August that the England international, who lives in a £1.85 million, six-bedroom house, had splashed out on a golf course in Cheshire where he could build himself a more secluded home," the article added. 

The use of 'campaigning' in the headline is a reference to Rashford's work in pushing for the UK government to provide free school meals for children from underprivileged backgrounds. 

Just last week, the young footballer forced UK PM Boris Johnson into a U-turn over plans to halt the scheme, as the government pledged an additional £400 million to help children and their families this winter.

The 23-year-old forward has been hailed across the nation for his activism, leading to observers to ponder whether the Mail's article was a subtle attempt to undermine Rashford's good name by focusing on his property investments. 

Sharing a screenshot of the article, Rashford directly discussed the story on Twitter. 

"Ok, so let’s address this. I’m 23. I came from little. I need to protect not just my future but my family’s too," the star wrote to his 3.8 million followers. 

"To do that I made a decision at the [beginning] of 2020 to start investing more in property. Please don’t run stories like this alongside refs to ‘campaigning’."

The post won immediate support from the likes of TV pundit and former England World Cup hero Gary Lineker, who wrote: "Here they go. This is how they start. Subtle to begin with, but it will grow. It’s what they do."

UK tabloids have in the past been accused of undermining young black footballers with stories on their spending, supposedly portraying them as arrogant and flashy. 

In recent weeks The Sun was similarly criticized for running an article on 19-year-old Manchester United star Mason Greenwood and his use of 'laughing gas'.

England and Manchester City star Raheem Sterling spoke out against sections of the UK press back in 2018, accusing them of helping to fuel racism in football through some of their reporting.