At the end of last season, after Manchester United had stumbled through their worst ever campaign in the three decades of the Premier League, the club decided to cancel their annual awards ceremony.

The tradition is that the club’s players, coaches and staff gather at Old Trafford to reflect on the season and to hand out a set of awards.

But after a season that had seen them burn their way through three managers, lose 12 league games and finish sixth in the table, there was nothing really to celebrate, and the awards were given to the winners at the training ground instead.

Cristiano Ronaldo was ultimately named the club’s Player of the Year after scoring 24 goals on his return to Old Trafford, but with the possible exception of David De Gea there were no other genuine contenders for the award.

A year later United will stage their awards ceremony after a more encouraging season in which they have won their first trophy for six years, reached the FA Cup final and currently remain on course to finish in the top four of the Premier League.

There is also a lot more competition amongst this season’s squad to win the Player of the Year award, named in honour of the club’s legendary manager Sir Matt Busby.

There have been some strong bids from two of last summer’s signings Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez and the team captain Bruno Fernandes, but United’s best and most important player this year has been Marcus Rashford.

This has been the most prolific season of Rashford’s career, which has seen him so far score 29 goals in 53 appearances in all competitions.

He has comfortably surpassed his previous best season, which was 22 goals in all competitions in 2019-20.

This has all been a stirring comeback for Rashford as last season was his worst, when he could only manage five goals in 32 appearances, to prompt talk that he might even need to leave Old Trafford to revive his career.

Rashford appeared distracted and disinterested throughout most of last season as he suffered through United’s own wider slump, but the arrival of Erik ten Hag last summer has reenergised him and turned him into United’s most important attacking player.

At 25-years-old, United have a homegrown striker who has already scored 122 career goals for them and is still not even close to his peak.

This season his goals have been absolutely crucial to United’s successes, and in the Premier League alone he has scored 31.3% of their total goals, demonstrating both his own importance, and the relative failure of United’s other attackers.

It is difficult to imagine United remaining competitive in four competitions without Rashford. Take away his goals and they suddenly look a far more ordinary side.

He has already won 14 United Man of the Match awards, which puts him comfortably ahead of his nearest challengers, Fernandes on seven and Casemiro on six.

He has created an exhilarating highlight reel of goals; against Liverpool to secure United’s first win of the season in August, a double to vanquish Arsenal in September, the winner against Manchester City in January, the decisive second in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle at Wembley in February and his strike against the La Liga champions Barcelona in the Camp Nou that same month.

At the World Cup he was criminally underused but still scored three goals for England, and then returned to fuel United’s pursuit of three cups and even a flirtation with the title race, scoring 17 goals in 20 games in those first two months after the tournament.

It certainly isn’t all about goals, and Rashford’s contribution of eleven assists in all competitions cannot be underestimated.

He has overall appeared more dangerous in the air, more clinical in front of goal, imbued with greater stamina and commitment, faster across the pitch and simply sharper. He is a constant threat, scaring defences with his pace and directness.

Rashford has managed to excel without the support of a competent number nine, as Wout Weghorst (2 goals in 28 appearances, and none in 15 Premier League games) and Anthony Martial have frustrated in their own ways.

For United fans, it is an incredibly exciting thought to consider what Rashford would be able to achieve if he was played alongside a world-class central striker.

But Rashford has done it without one this season, carrying the burden of United’s attack, and for this he has overwhelmingly been their player of the season.