“It’s Always the Same Reason”: Ruben Amorim Slams Rashford on His Irregular Training Schedule
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has offered a scathing assessment of Marcus Rashford’s situation at the club, after their 1-0 win against Fulham. Amorim appeared to suggest that he would rather play his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital over Rashford if the Englishman continues to not “give the maximum every day in training and in life.” This is a very interesting quote which shows what Amorim has seen from Rashford since taking over not so long ago.
“It’s the same, it’s always the same reason,” Amorim said when he was asked about why he continues to keep Rashford out of the United squad. “The reason is the training, the way I see what footballers should do in training, in life, it’s every day, every detail.”
Rashford is definitely on the market, with the player himself coming out before the media last month and claiming that he was ready to seek a “new challenge” away from Old Trafford after being dropped for United’s 2-1 win against Manchester City at the Etihad on December 15th. Amorim had seemingly suggested at that time that he wanted to keep the player. “United need big talent and he’s a big talent, so he just needs to perform at the highest level. That’s my focus. I just want to help Marcus. We are better with Marcus. I will try different things to push Marcus to the best levels he showed in the past”.
However, that being said United have tried to offload him, talking to interested parties such as AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and FC Barcelona. It is worth remembering that Rashford has now gone 11 games without playing for United, even though the club’s forwards, Joshua Zirkzee, Rasmus Hojlund, and Alejandro Garnacho, all being woefully out of form.
“So if things don’t change, I will not change. It’s the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum, if you do the right things, we can use every player. And you can see it today on the bench, we miss a little bit of pace to go and change the game, move some pieces,” the former Sporting CP boss said. “But I prefer it like that. I will put Vital on before I put a player on who doesn’t give the maximum every day. So I will not change in that department.”
There is still quite a bit of support from United’s fanbase for Rashford. That is always expected to be the case though, as the now 27-year-old joined the club way back in 2005. He made his first team debut back in 2015 and since then has turned out for them 426 times, in which he has scored 138 goals and assisted 63 more. Although for a large part of this decade, Rashford has been United’s best and most consistent attacking player, it is difficult to say without a doubt that Rashford, who is supposed to be in peak years presently, has done complete justice to his talent.
Also Read: Ruben Amorim calls up academy talent Godwill Kukonki to his first training session
Given how the situation is at the moment, it does seem like the clubs who are interested in the player cannot afford someone who is on massive wages like Rashford. United are apparently open to letting him leave on loan but the other club will have to pay the majority of his wages. If a move doesn’t materialize this window, then it will be interesting to see if Amorim bites the humble pie and brings Rashford back to the fold, at least till the summer. A big factor in this, like stated previously is that United are over-reliant on Amad at the moment. Hojlund and Zirkzee have been dreadful while Antony has left and Garnacho too heavily expected to leave. Presently, United only seems to be linked to one forward, Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku.
Amorim recently celebrated his 40th birthday, a rare cause of celebration complimented well by the win against Fulham at the weekend. The Portuguese manager, who arrived in November of last year, claimed that he had aged multiple years while at United job. “It’s not 40 … I’m 50!” he said. “After two months at Manchester United, it’s 50. It’s a privilege to spend my 40th birthday here. That feeling of winning and three points is really important for us. You cannot see a great improvement in the team and that is a fact, but to win helps us to improve.”
He also added, “We’ve had some lack of luck in some games. Today, was not the best match but we managed to win. The important thing is I have a clear idea of what I want to do. Sometimes I’m frustrated. We want to play a different style and we are going to play a different style in the future.” Amorim’s arrival hasn’t changed all that much for United as they sit 12th in the league at the moment. Amorim’s record at United doesn’t read the best so far with 8 wins, 2 draws and 7 losses in 17 matches so far during his tenure at Old Trafford.