Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said he would rather name his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach as a substitute than Marcus Rashford or any United player who was not prepared to give “the maximum”.
Amorim watched his starting centre-forward, Rasmus Højlund, endure a torrid time in the club’s 1-0 win at Fulham on Sunday night; he was forced to replace him with Joshua Zirkzee, who made little impact.
Meanwhile, Rashford has been frozen out of the team and is likely to leave the club this January window. It has not yet happened and, with the time getting short, Amorim was asked whether Rashford could yet be the answer.
Højlund has scored seven goals in all competitions this season; Zirkzee has four. Was there a way back for Rashford, who has not featured in United’s past 11 games?
Marcus Rashford warms up during the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Newcastle United FC (Photo by Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty Images)
“It’s always the same reason,” Amorim replied. “The reason is the training, the way I see what a footballer should do. In training, in life and it’s every day, every detail. So if things don’t change, I will not change.”
Amorim was pushed as to whether the situation would remain the same if Rashford stayed at United after the closure of the window on February 3rd, which led him to thrust Jorge Vital, his veteran goalkeeping coach, into the spotlight.
“It’s the same situation for every player,” Amorim said. “If you do the maximum, if you do the right things … we can use every player. You can see it today on the bench – we miss a little bit of pace to go, to change the game, to move some pieces, but I prefer [it] like that. I will put Vital [on the bench] before I put a player that doesn’t give the maximum every day so I will not change in that.”
Rashford has been linked with a move to various European club and this include Barcelona, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund.
