Napoli’s talks over a potential move for Man Utd forward Marcus Rashford have led to the Red Devils enquiring about Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, according to reports.
The Red Devils boss decided to leave Rashford out of their 2-1 win over arch-rivals Man City in the Manchester Derby in mid-December, while Alejandro Garnacho also missed that game.
But Rashford was then left out the two following games as well with Ruben Amorim pointing to “selection” as the reason for leaving the Man Utd forward out of his squad for their matches against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup and Bournemouth in the Premier League.
After being left out of their clash with Man City, Rashford told journalist Henry Winter that he is ready for a “new challenge” away from Old Trafford.
Man Utd head coach Amorim insisted just before Christmas that he will “forget the interview now” and move on by judging Rashford solely on his performances on the pitch.
Amorim told Sky Sports: “It is a hard situation. I understand that these players have a lot of people around them, making choices that are not the first idea from the player.
“I am always here to help Marcus as another player. I have to do what I have to do. They chose to do the interview as it is not just Marcus. I understand that.
“As a coach I focus on performance and the way you train. The rest, it is better for me and the club to deal with that when the time comes.
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“At the moment I focus on improving Marcus and we need a talented guy like Marcus. I forget the interview now and see what I see on the pitch.”
There have been a number of clubs reportedly interested in Rashford with the January transfer window now open and Man Utd keen to raise money for potential incomings.
Our friends at TEAMtalk have an exclusive with Italian journalist Rudy Galetti claiming that Man Utd brought up Kvaratskhelia in talks over a deal to offload Rashford to Napoli.
The journalist claims: ‘Recent discussions between Manchester United and Napoli initially focused on Marcus Rashford and included enquiries about the Georgian winger, who is on United’s shortlist as his potential replacement.’
It is claimed that the Napoli winger is ‘open’ to a transfer in the summer if he can’t agree a new deal at the Serie A side and although Man Utd are ‘still tracking the player, it is not certain that they will be interested after June – given that they need a reinforcement right now, in January’.
