MANCHESTER:
Marcus Rashford was left out of Manchester United’s squad for their Premier League game against Bournemouth on Sunday, the third successive match he has been left out by manager Ruben Amorim amid rumours his time at the club could be limited.
The 27-year-old forward appears to have fallen out of favour as he has struggled to rediscover the form that saw him score 30 goals across all competitions in the 2022-23 season. Amorim said earlier this week his team is “better with Marcus Rashford,” but he also stated he has set high standards for players in terms of things like conduct during training and with team mates.
“Rashford out again? It is my decision, and it always will be,” Amorim told Sky Sports in his pre-game interview. “I want to see the best of my players, and then I try different things with different players, so that is my focus.”
Amorim initially left Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out of his squad for last week’s 2-1 derby victory over Manchester City, and two days later the forward declared in an interview that he was ready for a “new challenge” away from the club.
While Rashford has scored three goals since Amorim took charge a month ago, he was taken off in the 56th minute of their 2-1 Europa League victory over Viktoria Plzen on Dec. 12, with club supporters booing the striker as he left the pitch.
He has not played since. Amorim said last month that he was keen to help Rashford rediscover his top form but that the player had to “want it” first. Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on Sunday that he does not believe Rashford will be staying for much longer at the club. “I suspect it’s getting to an inevitable ending where he will leave the club,” he told Sky. Rashford also missed Thursday’s 4-3 League Cup quarter-final loss to Tottenham Hotspur.
Gary Neville believes Marcus Rashford is approaching the “inevitable ending” of his Manchester United career after the forward was again left out of the matchday squad on Sunday. Rashford, a product of the United youth system, told journalist Henry Winter on Tuesday he was “ready for a new challenge and the next steps”, with former United and England full-back Neville believing little can now be done to stop a parting between player and club.
“It is not really big team news any more,” Neville told Sky Sports shortly before Sunday’s match. “It is something of a norm, a pattern has developed over the last week. It was a surprise last weekend.
“It is getting to the point where you leave him out three games on the bounce something really is obviously going wrong or has gone wrong and it is not looking great for both Marcus’s future at the club or Manchester United keeping him either.
“I suspect it is getting to that point in the journey where it has got an inevitable ending.”
Neville, now a pundit, added: “It is a distraction for the manager. It does become obvious that he probably has to leave and that the club want him to leave — it will probably work for both parties.
