Roy Keane says Marcus Rashford must be “ashamed” over his Manchester United exile while Wayne Rooney revealed an “embarrassing” training ground snub over the weekend.
Rashford hasn’t featured for United since mid-December when he was dropped for the Manchester derby, after which he revealed his desire for “a new challenge”.
The 27-year-old’s representatives have held talks with a number of clubs over a loan move this month but his mammoth £325,000-per-week wages are proving to be a significant hurdle to any deal.
With just four days to go before the transfer window closes, it looks likely that Rashford will be forced to remain at Old Trafford for the rest of the season.
It means the England international will need to buck up his ideas in order to play after Ruben Amorim claimed he would rather play his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach than any player not putting in the required effort in training.
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United hero Keane admitted he can’t understand how any player isn’t putting in the hard yards.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Keane said: “I can’t get involved in the conversation.
“I still can’t understand at any level – whatever’s going on with players leaving, months left on contracts – a player who doesn’t train properly.
“I don’t understand it; you might as well leave me out of this conversation.
“Especially if you think he wants to move, which is more of a reason to train properly so when you go to a new club you’re up to speed and when you leave the club at least you showed a decent attitude. He must be ashamed.”
Rashford was spotted training with the first-team ahead of their Europa League clash with FCSB on Thursday and reports claim he has undertaken extra sessions to stay fit.
But Wayne Rooney revealed he recently spotted Rashford working away from the main group with a United coach, and labelled the situation “embarrassing”.
“I went into Carrington on Sunday to take my kids to game day and Marcus Rashford was out on the training pitch with the fitness coach, but he was right over towards where the parents were walking past for the kids’ games,” said Rooney.
“I looked at him thinking how embarrassing it must be for him as parents walk past.”
Gary Neville believes Amorim’s scathing comments on Rashford are solely down to the club’s business decision to offload him this month.
“I know that Ruben Amorim is honest,” said Neville. “I do believe that he wants the money back for Marcus Rashford, he’s said that [about him training] to probably shine a light on him and get him out of the club.
“They’re probably asking Marcus to take a wage cut to leave, they don’t want to subsidise the wages because there is no way a new club will pay him those wages.
“So I suspect it’s a brutal blow on him to say that there is no future here for him, that we need him out. I suspect it’s a business play as well as an honesty play.”
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Amorim has insisted he doesn’t hold a grudge against Rashford but urged him to change, and even went as far as saying goal-shy United ‘need’ him.
“Our team should be so much better with Rashford, but Rashford has to change,” said Amorim. “If he changes, we would more than welcome a talent like Rashford – and we need him. We need goals, we need one against one, we need a threat.
“But in this moment, I think it’s really clear we have to set some standards, that’s all. We are waiting for Marcus if he wants it really, really bad. That’s the only thing. You try to make it something personal, but it’s not personal. It’s nothing against Marcus.
“I just have to make the same rules for everybody. That for me is so simple, it’s always the same message. We are a better team with Marcus Rashford, that is clear. He is a big talent. But until the right moment I will not change my mind.”
