Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but when the individual in question is often – rightly or wrongly – named as a ‘trusted source’, a ‘transfer insider’ and is known as voice of conviction on the world’s biggest sports radio station, they probably shouldn’t make wild assumptions about the emotional state of players that could very easily lead to a social media pile-on and abuse of a footballer who’s suffered quite enough of that nonsense.

Alex Crook evidently has no idea how the Manchester United players feel about Marcus Rashford’s return to Old Trafford.

It’s not gone as well as anyone would have liked. Rashford’s Man Utd career looked over when he left the club under a cloud of his and Ruben Amorim’s creation, and even throughout the summer after it became clear that Barcelona had no interest in making his loan move permanent, a return to his boyhood club felt unlikely.

But Michael Carrick kept the door open for his former teammate and Rashford trudged slowly back through it when no suitable offers for an escape came to fruition, largely – as Crook very reasonably points out – thanks to his £300,000 per week wages.

“I think he’s probably peaked, you know, that season when he scored so many goals under Erik ten Hag (2022/23) and convinced them to give him this huge, big-money contract, which has been a real problem for the football club,” said Crook on talkSPORT.

“Since he came back, I was hoping that maybe his spell away at Barcelona would have sparked a new lease of life in Marcus Rashford, but we haven’t seen it, in all honesty.

“I think Michael Carrick was absolutely right to put him on the bench yesterday, and the fact that he didn’t bring him on at the end of the game, when United were short of goals and chasing a winner, probably tells you he doesn’t at this moment in time.”

We could argue over whether four Premier League starts is enough to write a footballer off as past their peak, but it’s an opinion Crook has made based on watching him play football. All of us offer up opinions in a similar vein, whether we’re paid for those thoughts or not.

But Crook – talkSPORT’s chief football correspondent – then skirted into dangerous and negligent territory, as he made assumptions about the feelings of Rashford’s Man Utd teammates based on nothing whatsoever.

“I think his return has been a problem,” Crook added. “I think there are probably some unhappy players in that dressing room because he’s earning so much money.

“I think it’s also been an issue for Matheus Cunha because it’s his place that Marcus Rashford took, and you can see that Cunha is sulking a little bit. There was such a good balance at the top end of the pitch last season with Cunha, Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo and Šeško when he was fit.

“Marcus Rashford, not on a personal level, but just because those players feel aggrieved, I think he’s upset the balance of the attack and isn’t putting the numbers on the board at the moment to justify that huge salary.”

Crook has no proof of Rashford being a “problem” or any of his teammates being “unhappy” that he’s returned. For all he knows the England international is the life and soul of the dressing room and one of the key leaders in Michael Carrick’s squad.

Cunha is “sulking” because of Rashford? The Brazilian started every Premier League game before the draw with Leeds, for which both he and Rashford were dropped.

In April 2024, Rashford took to social media to decry the racist abuse he had been receiving for “months”. He had his mural defaced after missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final. There’s a case to be made that he was hounded out of England by bigots, and doesn’t need any fuel added to a discriminatory fire that will always burn when he’s not performing for Manchester United upon his return to the club.

Crook very clearly signposted his comments as an opinion. He “thinks”; he doesn’t know. Don’t say it then, mate.

Because it’s an opinion which in football reporting circles could easily be dressed up as a fact to Rashford’s cost and abusers have historically needed no invitation to vilify the victim of his bullsh*t.