For a man who knew what was coming next, Ruben Amorim seemed remarkably cheerful when he sat down at Carrington yesterday morning.
A smile for the cameras, a wave to a friendly Portuguese reporter he recognised at the back of the room, and then straight down to business.
Question one, Marcus Rashford. Question two, Marcus Rashford — and so on.
Alejandro Garnacho and Mason Mount got a brief look-in, and Amorim was asked once about the problem of his line-ups being leaked. Otherwise, there was only one show in town and it certainly wasn’t tonight’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham.
Rashford was always going to dominate the agenda from the moment an interview with United’s disillusioned star appeared on social media on Tuesday evening, in which he admitted he is ‘ready for a new challenge and the next steps’ in his career.
If his comments blindsided the club and Amorim then the new head coach did not look too ruffled when he walked into the training ground ready to field the inevitable barrage of questions.
Ruben Amorim acquitted himself well when pressed on Marcus Rashford’s Man United future
Rashford gave an interview where he said he is ‘ready for a new challenge and the next steps’
It came after Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho (right) were left out of United’s matchday squad for last weekend’s Manchester derby against arch-rivals City by the Portuguese coach
‘I think he’s right,’ said the 39-year-old before cleverly turning the issue of Rashford’s new challenge on its head.
‘We have a new challenge here. 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. I really hope all my players are ready for this new challenge.
‘Nothing has changed. We believe in Marcus. Marcus is a player of Manchester United so there’s no change.’
All delivered with an easy smile. Amorim’s personal skills are one of the reasons United chose him to succeed the more authoritarian Erik ten Hag, and if the club really want to keep Rashford he will need to use all his powers of persuasion.
Only twice yesterday did Amorim hint at his innermost thoughts: when he admitted to being ‘emotional’ over Rashford’s comments, and again when agreeing they would have been better aired privately with his coach.
Apart from that, this was an exercise in smoothing over the issue, for now at least, and trying to keep the door open for a way back.
If Amorim’s explanation for dropping Rashford and Garnacho for Sunday’s Manchester derby — and what seemed like thinly veiled criticism of how they dress and live away from the pitch — had provoked the interview, there was an attempt to row back.
‘I talk about the way they dress, I was just making a point. I don’t know how they dress, I just see them in the kit,’ he reasoned.
Amorim did admit he regretted Rashford airing his thoughts publicly instead of speaking to him
His move to drop Rashford was emboldened by United’s dramatic 2-1 win against City
Amorim still defended Rashford and rowed back on some of his comments from the weekend
‘I don’t know how they eat, I’m not looking at their plates. It was just to make a point. It was to make a focus on the detail. I expect the best of each one of them to prepare the game. My focus is on the game and to get the best out of Marcus.’
Can Amorim’s words get Rashford back onside? Do the club even want Rashford back onside? Or is it already too late?
United have been here before, of course. It was two years ago that Cristiano Ronaldo gave a bombshell TV interview to Piers Morgan criticising every aspect of the club, which left no way back. Ronaldo’s contract was torn up and he moved to Saudi Arabia.
And again, this time last year, when Jadon Sancho’s falling out with Ten Hag was showing no sign of thawing four months after the forward posted a message on social media effectively branding the United boss a liar. Sancho joined Borussia Dortmund on loan for the rest of the season and is now at Chelsea.
The same PR company that represents Ronaldo and Sancho also signed up Rashford a year ago, so maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised by the timing of his interview, a few days before the January transfer window opens.
It is not the first time Rashford has expressed doubts over his future at the club where he has spent two decades since arriving aged seven. Back in March 2022, similar rumours began circulating which were thought to have originated from within his camp.
In hindsight, it would probably have been better if he hadn’t signed that new £315,000-a-week contract in the summer of last year which makes a mid-season exit from Old Trafford even more difficult to negotiate.
It came on the back of a 30-goal season, but just 15 more have followed in one-and-a-half seasons since. Rashford has been struggling to justify his salary for some time. All the while, the 27-year-old’s demeanour has done little to erase the impression he would rather be anywhere else than United. Lifestyle issues have bubbled to the surface, some true and some not.
Rashford’s words come two years after Cristiano Ronaldo gave a bombshell TV interview to Piers Morgan criticising all aspects of the club, with United parting ways with him shortly after
Rashford scored 30 times during the 2022-23 season, but has struggled to replicate that since
On the back of that campaign, he signed a bumper new £315,000-a-week contract which makes a mid-season exit from Old Trafford even more difficult to negotiate right now
When Rashford was dropped for the derby at the weekend, the rumour mill went into overdrive.
Because of the lives they lead and the money they earn, it is easy to think of footballers as different from the rest of us.
But as in most walks of life, if it is no longer practical for someone to be somewhere any more then a solution can usually be found.
In United’s case, that didn’t just happen with Ronaldo and Sancho, but Mason Greenwood and Alexis Sanchez as well.
Common sense prevails.
United have been open to selling Rashford for some time and, despite Amorim’s words yesterday, they may well decide parting ways is for the best. The club have sailed close to the wind in terms of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules after losing £300million in the last three years, and selling a homegrown player generates a 100 per cent profit on the balance sheet — roughly four times what you get for other players.
It may be better to sell Rashford than Kobbie Mainoo or Garnacho, even if the latter pair’s lower earnings mean United are not in danger of having to give them a sizeable pay-off.
That may be required with Rashford if his new club cannot afford to match his current earnings. That is unlikely to be a problem if he follows Ronaldo to Saudi, though, where the four big hitters — Al Ittihad, Al Hilal, Al Nassr and Al Ahli — would welcome him with open arms.
Selling the 27-year-old could help United in regards to meeting the Premier League’s PSR rules (pictured left to right – United chiefs Dave Brailsford, Jason Wilcox and Sir Jim Ratcliffe)
Rashford has faced questions about his life away from the pitch, alongside his demeanour on it
Amorim also revealed he had not spoken to the player or United’s hierarchy about the situation
Moving there at this stage of Rashford’s career would once have seemed unthinkable, but he is only 19 months younger than Ivan Toney, who left Brentford to join Al Ahli in August.
Premier League rivals such as Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City — who twice tried to sign Rashford as a kid — will all be in the market for a new forward and are roughly in the same orbit financially.
Paris Saint-Germain have been continually linked with Rashford for more than two years, perhaps encouraged by his representatives. The French champions are unlikely to make an offer in January, but it may be a different story if he is still at United next summer.
Then there is Spain, where Rashford is said to have had ambitions of playing for some time. It is hard to see him joining Real Madrid’s roster of stars, but Barcelona have been long-time admirers and may represent a more realistic option for him.
There are so many more questions than answers about Rashford right now, as Amorim expected when he arrived to face the press yesterday morning.
The United boss said he had not spoken to the player or the club’s hierarchy at that point as he tried, in vain, to guide the conversation towards tonight’s tie at Spurs as United aim to reclaim the trophy they won in 2023.
‘It is a hard situation to comment,’ smiled Amorim, apologetically. Already, life at United must seem a world away from Sporting Lisbon.
‘If I give a lot of importance, it will have big headlines in the papers. If I say it’s not a problem, then my standards are getting low. So I will deal with that, I understand that.
‘What I’m saying is that the team is more important than the individual. We will assess it at the right time, that’s all.’
