It helps to walk away sometimes

Former Manchester United forward Marcyus Rashford. [AFP]

Marcus Rashford was once hailed as Manchester United's golden boy and the social conscience of the Premier League, but the misfiring forward leaves Old Trafford for Aston Villa with his reputation tarnished after a precipitous fall from grace.

Rashford appeared to have the world at his feet when he signed a new five-year contract with United worth a reported PS325,000 ($400,000) per week in July 2023.

Fresh from scoring 30 goals in the 2022/23 season, the England star appeared to be entering his prime at the age of 25.

Rashford's approval rating was sky-high on and off the pitch after his role in forcing a British government U-turn over free school meals for disadvantaged children and his fight against racism and homelessness.

The Manchester-born forward even featured on the cover of British Vogue in 2020 alongside supermodel turned mental health campaigner Adwoa Aboah as one of "The Faces of Hope".

But the 27-year-old's drop-off in form and fallout with his boyhood club has been so dramatic that his loan move to Villa on Sunday, with an option to buy, came as little surprise.

Rashford joined United at the age of seven and emerged from the youth academy as a teenage prodigy in 2016, scoring twice on his United debut against Midtjylland and repeating the feat in his maiden Premier League appearance against Arsenal.

Aged 18, he became the youngest England player to score on his debut, against Australia.

He won the Europa League and twice won the FA Cup and League Cup, scoring 138 goals in 426 appearances for United, but has failed to fulfil his early promise.

The roots of Rashford's United exit can be traced back to December 2022.

Just back from the World Cup in Qatar on a high after scoring three times, Rashford found himself in trouble with then United manager Erik ten Hag after oversleeping and reporting late for a team meeting prior to a match at Wolves.

Dropped and chastised by Ten Hag, he came off the bench to score the winner.

Rashford was in hot water again in January 2024 after reports he had been seen in nightspots in Northern Ireland -he missed training after reporting ill and did not feature in the club's 4-2 FA Cup win over Newport.

Former United captain Gary Neville, now a Sky Sports pundit, warned him to "calm down", saying: "He's going through a dip in form but it can become your personality if you're not careful".