Marcus Rashford turned up for training ‘despite’ the fact Ruben Amorim called him out for not training properly. Manchester United’s plans are in tatters.
Rash decision
Marcus Rashford remains the biggest story in all of football on Tuesday because Manchester United. No problems there; Ruben Amorim made sure of that by continuing their non-existent ‘war of words’ over the weekend.
The latest development comes from Martin Blackburn of The Sun, who writes:
‘Despite Amorim’s comments, Rashford reported for training on Monday…’
To be fair, it would have been sensational for Rashford to respond to Amorim’s quotes calling out his professionalism in training by…not turning up to training. He had the chance to do the funniest thing ever and wasted it.
The media continues to struggle with the concept of a footballer turning up for work not being particularly newsworthy. Of course Rashford ‘reported for training on Monday’. He is paid incredibly handsomely to do so. It is his job. That ‘despite’ is absolute nonsense.
But Rashford ‘now knows there is no way back at Old Trafford following Ruben Amorim’s comments after the win at Fulham’.
And perhaps Mediawatch is being naive here and entirely alone in thinking that there might be ‘a way back’ for Rashford under Amorim, who specifically said: “If things don’t change, I will not change. It’s the same situation for every player, if you do the maximum and right things we can use every player.”
It admittedly requires some reading between the lines, but there might be ‘a way back’ for Rashford if he does “the maximum and right things”, which can be roughly translated to training and applying himself properly. Amorim has not been particularly secretive on what he perceives to be both the problem and the solution, nor that “if things don’t change, I will not change”.
If they do, he might. Therein lies Rashford’s ‘way back’.
‘It now looks highly unlikely he will feature again after Amorim said he is not being considered because of his performances in training.’
If only there was something Rashford could do to change the mind of a manager who isn’t picking him because of his performances and attitude in training. Maybe something in training?
‘There looks to be no way of patching up the differences between the pair.’
If you choose to completely ignore everything Amorim has said on the matter, yes.
MORE RASHFORD’S DOWNFALL FROM F365
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Pocket full of sunshine
Blackburn then weighs in on just how big an own goal Amorim might have scored by publicly criticising a player Manchester United wish to offload. It could cost them ‘MILLIONS’, the big Portuguese fool.
‘Those comments could now end up hitting United in the pocket when it comes to moving him on over the next few days,’ Blackburn says, having crunched the numbers.
‘If Rashford does not leave before Monday’s transfer deadline, he will cost United £6.5MILLION in wages until the summer window opens.’
While obviously a ludicrously big number, in relative footballing terms that’s really quite underwhelming, isn’t it? If Manchester United can’t find a suitor for Rashford before the deadline it will cost them MILLIONS, or the equivalent of one Zoran Tosic in wages.
They might be just fine when Sir Jim makes a few more cuts.
Come on baby, light my backfire
That claim is reiterated elsewhere:
By Chris Wheeler in the Daily Mail:
‘Ruben Amorim’s criticism of Marcus Rashford is in danger of backfiring as Manchester United struggle to offload the unsettled star with six days of the transfer window left.’
…and by James Ducker in the Daily Telegraph:
‘Yet Amorim’s scathing assessment of Rashford could backfire, with interested parties increasingly of the belief that United may have little choice but to offload the player on the cheap before Monday’s deadline.
Manchester United struggled to ‘offload the unsettled star’ with 33 days of the transfer window left and a fortnight of preparation after he weirdly told Henry Winter he wanted to leave. That was on December 17. Amorim made his latest comments on January 26. Not sure he can really be blamed for the difficulty in finding a club who will take on those wages in the interim.
Wheeler continues, writing: ‘Rashford has not featured in the last 11 games, and it now feels as though he has reached the point of no return with Amorim.’
Again, Rashford ‘has reached the point of no return with Amorim’ only if he ignores everything the manager has said.
‘United sources insisted on Monday that the head coach’s comments about players having the right attitude in training apply to every member of the squad and not just Rashford.’
Because they did. He specifically said they did and it was fairly obvious before then anyway.
‘Dortmund and Barcelona are leading the way to sign Rashford until the end of the season, but his £315,000-a-week wages have been a major stumbling block and there are concerns that Amorim’s comments will make it even harder for United to strike a deal that suits them.’
They will be cursing their luck, having done such a phenomenal job of finding someone to take Rashford before then.
READ MORE: Gary Neville tells Man Utd to snub ‘swap’ deal in transfer mistake warning – ‘I don’t get it’
Wrath and learn
There is some news coming away from Old Trafford, as the Daily Mirror website kindly informs us:
‘Kyle Walker risks wrath of Pep Guardiola with prediction after leaving Man City’
It seems like a strange thing for Walker to do. Guardiola would obviously prefer to have kept his captain but the decision seemed mutual and cordial.
Clearly not, considering these toxic quotes:
“It’s not perfect in terms of the league, but there’s still a chance in the Champions League. I hope to contribute with my experience and leadership and to help Milan return to where it wants to be. Winning the Champions League would be a dream come true: I have experienced it in a great final with City.”
‘Risks wrath’? He’s practically begging for it.
Wrath now, cry later
And the Daily Mirror website has clearly stumbled upon their headline style of choice for the day because…
‘Ruben Amorim risks wrath of Man Utd dressing room with yet another unpopular decision’
What has he sodding done now?
“They asked for the day off tomorrow. I didn’t give it, so we are training tomorrow because it’s my birthday and my gift is to work with them, with the guys who didn’t play.”
You cannot move for ‘wrath’ nowadays. It’s a wonder Marcus Rashford even turned up for training ‘despite’ all of it.
