"Just look at what we can do when we come together, THIS is England in 2020."

Five days had passed between Marcus Rashford asking Twitter followers for advice and a government U-turn promising £120million of investment in free school meals for disadvantaged children.

Five days to ask for help, lobby support, be told 'no', persevere, and finally, to paraphrase ex-England striker Gary Lineker, score the most important goal of his life.

Five days to change thousands of lives.

This is the England Rashford is shaping. As the Premier League returns to screens across the world after a three-month pause, Manchester United's number 10 is the ambassador it needs.

'HIS STORY RESONATES WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE'

United play Tottenham in north London on Friday, 99 days since their last game, a 5-0 Europa League thrashing of LASK. The wait has been far longer for Rashford, for whom carrying the Red Devils' attack became literally back-breaking labour in an FA Cup third-round replay win over Wolves on January 15.

It was feared the double stress fracture in his back would see him miss the rest of the season and perhaps Euro 2020. The coronavirus pandemic brought the campaign to a halt and gave Rashford the chance to work on his recovery, patiently and attentively, and few would begrudge that being the sole focus of his time in lockdown. It wasn't, of course.

In April, Rashford teamed up with FareShare, a charity providing meals to disadvantaged people. His own donation helped them reach a £100,000 target and started a snowball effect: supermarket chains got involved, and suddenly that target was £20million.

Rashford's considered campaigning kept up the momentum and brought the charity both vital funds and a platform to garner support. In May, he was given a Special Recognition Award by the High Sheriff of Manchester, Dr Eamonn O'Neal, for  "outstanding activity and contribution to the community".

"Marcus was nominated for showing great compassion for the vulnerable people in our community," Dr O'Neal told Stats Perform News. "He has used his name, position and reputation in a selfless manner to ensure that hot meals have been provided to many young people who may otherwise have gone hungry. He has raised a staggering amount of money and consequently, an enormous number of meals have been distributed. He has done this with humility and a deep understanding of the various levels of need experienced across Greater Manchester and beyond."

There were further gestures that flew under the radar: engaging with young fans via social channels, running an exercise session for kids stuck at home, learning sign language to judge a poetry contest for children hard of hearing. Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha thinks Rashford "identified the power he has" to help in a time of unprecedented uncertainty.

"He really structured it in the right way and this is what is needed in the community," Saha told Stats Perform. "It was done locally in a way that they can control how they've done it. It's really good. I'm a big fan and a lot of players should follow that example. Not everyone can do it because Rashford has a very unique platform in Manchester and I would say his story resonates with a lot of people, which is why it's a really good story."

On June 11, Rashford announced "amazing news": the FareShare target was reached, and three million people in the UK would benefit. But there was an addendum: "There is SO much more to do. Trust me when I say, I will keep fighting until no child in the UK has to worry about where their next meal is coming from. This is England in 2020 and families need help."

'I'M NOT SURE HE KNOWS THE ENORMITY OF WHAT HE'S DOING'

Before he joined United's academy at age seven, Rashford was one of a distressingly high number of children in the UK to depend upon free school meals. With schools closing amid the pandemic and a refusal to extend the scheme over the summer months, low-income families were at huge risk. The government stood firm in its decision until Rashford's persistence forced them to change tack and announce "a COVID summer food fund".

"It's unbelievable," Troy Townsend, head of development at anti-discrimination body Kick It Out, told Stats Perform. "He's basically called the government out and that's what it needed because there was going to be no movement on this.

"What this period of time has, I hope, really taught [Premier League] players is that there is a lot of strength and power behind them. Marcus is the standout story among many stories. 

"I'm not even sure he knows the enormity of what he's doing. It's genuine, it's from an experience he had as a youngster. Maybe after today, he'll realise the enormity of what he's done."

Townsend realises it well enough. As a former teacher in Leytonstone in east London when Rashford himself was still a schoolboy in Wythenshawe, he has seen first hand how the simple matter of where a child's next meal will come from can shape a young life.

"I remember once where there was a young girl coming with us for the first time and I told her to get her packed lunch and she just stood and looked at me. I thought, what's wrong? What're you doing? Go and get your packed lunch, we're on our way. And she said, 'Sir, I haven't got packed lunch'. And simple as it was, it broke me. But I had to think really quickly on my feet.

"The question back was probably wrong: 'Why haven't you got a packed lunch?'. And her answer was: 'My mum hasn't got bread.' I can tell you, even now, and this was over 10 years ago, it's breaking my heart. Luckily, you go to the school canteen and you say, 'This young lady needs a lunch', and then you put measures in place.

"It's not easy for any child to walk into a school environment and say: 'I need help because I haven't eaten.' So that's why, when I see what Marcus is doing, most people in the primary school system – particularly in a deprived area – would understand that there are children who would go up until probably six o'clock, unless they've taken a bit of food off a friend, who were embarrassed to speak up about their lack of food, water, and would probably not have come to school with any breakfast anyway, and the one meal they would get is the meal when they finally get home.

"There are times I've had to give children a pound. There's a chicken shop – it's the easiest thing to get for a pound, two bits of chicken and chips, or it was in my day, and you didn't think about, 'Hold on, they've got to go and run in a minute!'. You just wanted them to be fed.

"It's a tough thing to talk about. Those of us who get three, four meals a day and those little bits in between can feel how privileged we are because even in this country of ours, there are children that don't have those meals. That's why what Marcus is doing means so much, particularly to those who get it, but it will also have opened up so many eyes."

A PROPER LEADER

Since that explosive debut against Midtjylland five years ago, Rashford has been at the eye of the storm at Old Trafford.

His boyish, instinctive goalscoring knack endeared him to fans wearied to the point of mutiny by the turgid football in Louis van Gaal's final season. He sometimes looked cowed by the toxic bullishness of Jose Mourinho and there were a few disappointing games too many, such as the FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea in 2017, but there was still a sense of a young star trying to rise through a poisonous atmosphere.

While far from wholly successful, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's time in charge has at least pointed to a longer-term vision – one with Rashford at the forefront.

"There are definitely four or five players who are very important to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer," said Saha. "All those players who made that improvement process were very important, and I think for Rashford, the introduction of [Harry] Maguire was important to give that kind of confidence aspect.

"That's why you give the platform for Rashford to make the difference all the time because he can do it because his work rate is amazing and that thing he maybe missed in one year because maybe he thought 'I've got my position, I'm respected, I've got my status so I don't need to do this or that'. Those things can be a bad sign for those playing behind you. Now you can see he is a proper leader."

Rashford has certainly led by example in 2019-20. Fourteen goals and four assists in 22 league games is by far his best return in a season, but Opta advanced metrics paint a more layered picture.

This season, Rashford has averaged 0.77 open play sequences ending in a goal, his best record by a distance over a full season. He is also shooting more often after an open-play sequence than ever before – 4.78 times per match on average.

He is a finisher, yes, but his involvement in Solskjaer's increasingly fluid set-up is broader than that. On average, he covers 15.24 metres per ball carry, the highest figure he has posted in his career (a carry is a movement of the ball by a player of more than five yards from where they received possession).

This season, Rashford has covered 113.1 metres in progressive carries (ball carries in the opposition half that progress at least five metres towards goal). That's six metres more than in the whole of 2016-17, his previous best season. His average distance per progressive carry is more than two metres above his past best, nearly two thirds of these carries have ended in a shot, and 0.14 in a goal.

These indicate a forward with increasing power and confidence in his own prowess, embracing the responsibilities as United's spearhead. A leader, in name and deeds. At 22 years old.

"He's been relentless, just like the way he plays football," said Townsend. "You've got to applaud not only him but his mother and the people around him for having the foresight and not losing the energy. At the top of it now, we’ve got a 22-year-old man who's still developing not only as a man but as a footballer and a presence in the game who is now affecting so many lives in so many ways."

Rashford could one day become the best forward in the Premier League. He is already one of its greatest ambassadors: talented, inspirational, compassionate. He sums up what England should be – the England he is striving to build.