Amorim makes plea to Marcus Rashford over Man Utd future as boss reveals impact on Red Devils squad

Ruben Amorim has urged Marcus Rashford to reconsider his desire to leave Manchester United after claiming the Red Devils are “better” with the 27-year-old within their ranks and with the wantaway star having seemingly decided where he wants to play next.

The homegrown Manchester United star was omitted from their matchday squad for Sunday’s momentous 2-1 win over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, with Amorim drawing widespread praise for clamping down on a player who for too long has not played to his consistent best and has been accused of not always showing the most professional of attitudes.

And with strong reports claiming United have now put Rashford up for sale and will listen to reasonable offers for his services in the January window, the player himself came out and confirmed in an eye-catching interview that he himself is keen to move on and that he feels it would be in the best interests of his career to try a new challenge amid his “bad situation”.

However, Amorim insists he still hopes he can persuade Rashford to stay and has urged the 60-times capped England man to reconsider his future.

“Of course, because this kind of club needs big talent and he’s a big talent, so he just needs to perform at the highest level and that is my focus. I just want to help Marcus,” Amorim told a press conference on Wednesday to preview Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final trip to Tottenham.

“We are better with Marcus Rashford, that is simple and we will try different things to push Marcus to the best levels he showed in the past. And that’s all.”

Amorim also played down the impact of Rashford’s comments on the squad. “I think they are more simple than that, they focus on their job, everyone, all of the players,” he insisted. “I was a player and we were a little bit selfish so they are focused on their job to win a place in the team. I don’t think it’s had an impact on the team.”

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Amorim still sees Man Utd future for Rashford

TEAMtalk has long since stated United are looking to move the player on, with the player falling short of the ‘cultural reboot’ that minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is looking to install at Old Trafford.

Since Sunday’s omission became headline news, it’s been claimed United could seek anything between £40m to £60m for his services, while it’s also been speculated they may even be open to letting him leave on loan in January if it helped facilitate a guaranteed permanent move in the summer.

Despite those reports, Amorim himself remains adamant he hopes to talk the player around.

But when asked if he had spoken to Rashford himself yet, Amorim added: “No, not yet. It was yesterday, I gave the day off to the lads, so he’s our player and he’s ready for the next game.

“I spoke with a lot of players individually and during training. What I want is to take the best stuff of Marcus Rashford as the player so I don’t talk about the future, I just talk about the present, I want the best for each one of them and that is the key point for me, I just want to win and to help the team be better.

“We have here a new challenge, it’s a tough one, for me it’s the biggest challenge in football because we are in a difficult situation and I already said this is one of the biggest clubs in the world,” said Amorim. “This is a really new challenge and the biggest one. I really hope all my players are ready for this new challenge.”

Rashford chooses next destination amid Man Utd exit claims

Speculation on where Rashford will move next has intensified off the back of Sunday’s omission and after his subsequent exit wishes came to light.

And while our reporter Ben Jacobs revealed that French giants PSG are not currently looking into his possible signing and with talk of a potential swap deal for Randal Kolo Muani also being ruled out, there are other potential destinations out there for the player.

Indeed, a strong report on Wednesday claimed that the player himself has decided he wants to move to Spain next and test himself in LaLiga, a league considered by many as an equal to the Premier League.

But it is unclear exactly where he could go. Real Madrid do not need him while Barcelona are chasing different wingers.

A separate report from TBR Football states that there has been little interest from other clubs in signing Rashford permanently.

As such, United are prepared to loan him out with a view to him leaving permanently at a later date. This is a similar strategy to the ones they used when offloading Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho.

It is further claimed that Rashford’s entourage has ‘approached’ Barca, Bayern Munich and Fenerbahce to gauge their interest in a prospective deal.

With Barca out of the running, Bayern or Fenerbahce could now emerge as frontrunners for the player.

Rashford’s decline at Man Utd over the years