Marcus
Rashford
has defended his off-field partnerships following claims that he has
profited from his campaigns for social change. The Manchester United and
England forward also questioned why footballers “can’t just do the right thing”
for charity.

The 23-year-old’s
comments came on Twitter after he learned that British weekly magazine ‘The
Spectator’ was about to publish a story on him receiving income from one of the
partnerships.

Also Read | Will never apologise for who I am: Marcus Rashford after racist abuse

At the
onset of the pandemic last year, Rashford had campaigned against child food
poverty, eventually raising up to £20 million for various groups as he became the
youngest player to top the Sunday Times Giving List.

His actions
have also forced the British government to reconsider their measures for free
school meals during the pandemic.

“Just heard
@spectator are planning to run a story on me tomorrow about how I have
benefited commercially in the last 18 months,” he tweeted Tuesday.

“To clarify,
I don’t need to partner with brands. I partner because I want to progress the
work I do off the pitch and most of any fee I would receive contributes to
that.”

“Last
summer, 1.3m children had access to food support, through my relationship with
Burberry children have a safe place to be after school where they will be fed,
following the November investment vulnerable children have safe places to go
this summer holiday, and due to my relationship with Macmillan 80,000 children
now have a book to call their own.”

“Do I
have a larger commercial appeal following the U-turns? I’m sure. But I’m also a
Manchester United and England international footballer. Why has there always
got to be a motive? Why can’t we just do the right thing?”

Rashford’s
actions got him awarded an MBE title in the delayed 2020 queen’s birthday
honours list, and a mural in his honour was made in Withington, Manchester.

However, he,
along with Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho, was the subject of online racist abuse
earlier this month after missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final defeat to
Italy. The mural in honour was also vandalised, with a number of swear words
smeared across it.