Amorim rips Marcus Rashford to shreds as brutal end to Man Utd career is all but confirmed

Any chance Marcus Rashford may have had of playing again for Manchester United are emphatically over after Ruben Amorim offered the ultimate humiliation to the star by revealing he’d rather put a 63-year-old coach on the bench, and amid claims a surprise new transfer avenue has opened up.

Rashford has now missed the last 11 Manchester United matches across all competitions after confirming he wants to leave the club and following his initial omission from the squad that claimed a memorable victory at Manchester City on December 15. That means the Europa League match against Viktoria Plzen on December 12 looks increasingly likely to be the last time the 27-year-old will have represented his hometown club.

But any chance Rashford had of walking away quietly and fulfilling his wish – as he told in his initial interview with journalist Henry Winter confirming his wish to ‘try something new’ – of leaving Old Trafford with the minimum of fuss and nothing but respect appears to have gone up in smoke after Amorim finally snapped when questioned about the wantaway star and his ongoing absence from the squad.

Speaking after United laboured their way to a 1-0 win at Fulham, Amorim – in the last day of his thirties – was asked again about the player’s absence.

“It is always the same reason,” Amorim replied.

When probed as to what that reason is, he replied: “The reason is the training. The reason is what I think a footballer should do in training [and] in life. If things do not change, I will not change.

“It is the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum and do the right things, we can use every player.

“And you can see today on the bench, we missed a bit of pace to go, to change the game. I will put [Jorge] Vital [goalkeeping coach, on the pitch] before I put a player that does not give the maximum. I will not change in that department.”

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No way back for Rashford after Amorim admission

We first revealed back in the autumn and before his explosive interview with Winter that United were open to offloading Rashford, whose attitude has been called into question on several occasions in the past and after it was also revealed that he had suffered the same multi-year problem with a series of Manchester United managers.

Furthermore, amid claims in The Times that the player does not fit in with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s so-called ‘cultural reboot’ at Old Trafford, it is no surprise to see the club making it perfectly clear they are open to moving the 60-times capped England forward on.

However, finding a new home for the player has proved easier said than done.

We understand United value the player at some £50m, though finding someone both capable of paying that fee and supplementing the player’s large earnings – he currently collects £325,000 a week at Old Trafford – has proved extremely troublesome.

In his absence, United have suffered a mixed bag of results without him, though Sunday’s win at Craven Cottage – their third win in four games across all competitions – shows Amorim may finally be starting to make his mark.

Asked about the win at in south-west London, Amorim appeared happy to collect three points.

“It’s a good day for us,” Amorim said. “Of course, it wasn’t a great performance, but we can see it. A clean sheet also, so let’s get this feeling to the next game.

“You sometimes need a little bit of luck. I can see we have a lot to improve. We didn’t play so well with the ball.”

Surprise new option for Marcus Rashford

While Rashford’s brother and agent Dwaine Maynard has held talks with several clubs, including the likes of AC Milan, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, finding a new home for the star has proved difficult. And with a week left in the window, all parties will be eager to soon find a resolution that may require one – or both – parties to make a serious sacrifice.

Rashford has always made clear that his dream destination was Spain and, more specifically, Barcelona, who are enjoying an excellent season under the management of Hansi Flick.

But despite talks with the Catalonian giants a week ago, securing a move there has proved easier said than done, given their well-publicised financial issues.

If Barcelona are to secure his signing then they will need to offload at least one player first. As a result, talk of a high-profile swap that could see Ansu Fati move the other way certainly remains possible.

However, a report in Spanish outlet Fichajes claims Rashford is getting fed up with waiting for Barcelona to sort their finances out and is ready to turn his back on a possible move there in favour of joining West Ham.

As it stands, the Hammers remain the only English side to have expressed a concrete option in signing the player with our transfer insider Fraser Fletcher rating their chances of pulling off a deal last week.

While meeting 50% of his salary – some £162,500 a week – is a stretch for the Hammers, it is something within their means, though any loan move there would also need United to compromise on their original decision not to let Rashford join another Premier League side.

But with days remaining in the window, that now has to be an increasingly strong possibility.

Elsewhere, United have at least successfully managed to move one of their fringe players on this month with Ethan Wheatley agreeing a move down to League Two where he will spend the rest of the season with a promotion-chasing side.

One long-term target United look set to miss out on, though, is Angel Gomes, with their former midfield star instead closing on a move back to England with a Premier League rival instead.

Rashford’s history of disciplinary issues

-Rashford was dropped to the substitutes bench for Man Utd’s Premier League game at Wolves on Boxing Day 2022 after oversleeping and arriving late for a team meeting. He subsequently scored the winner after his introduction from the bench.

-Hours after a 3-0 Manchester derby defeat in November 2023, Rashford was told by then Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag that it was “unacceptable” that the forward went to a reported “intimate, pre-planned celebration in honour of his birthday at a private area of a Chinawhite organised by his friends.”

-Rashford was reportedly dropped from the starting line-up for United’s Carabao Cup fourth-round defeat by Newcastle three days later as a disciplinary measure.

-Rashford called in sick for training after a 12-hour nightclub bender in Belfast in January 2024 and was subsequently left out of United’s 4-2 win over Newport in the FA Cup fourth round. Rashford was fined two weeks’ wages for the incident.