Gary Neville “wouldn’t be surprised” if Ruben Amorim sanctioned the exits of both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho this month in a bid to “wrestle control” at Manchester United like Sir Alex Ferguson.
Rashford looks set to leave on loan this month having announced his desire for “a new challenge” in a bombshell interview last month, with AC Milan thought to be the furthest along in negotiations with Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘blocking’ a move to a Premier League rival.
And having previously been an ‘untouchable’ member of the squad, Garnacho could also be on his way out with United attracted by the idea of his ‘pure profit’ sale.
A report on Wednesday claimed Napoli has reached an ‘agreement’ with the Argentinian’s representatives, though the Serie A side aren’t willing to pay the €70m the Red Devils want for their prized asset.
United’s willingness to part with both left wingers has come as a surprise to many, but not Neville, who believes Amorim is taking a leaf out of Ferguson’s book.
“It’s been in the news in the last 24 hours that bids are coming in for Garnacho. There’s been news stories about Rashford going on loan or to another club, it genuinely wouldn’t surprise me if Ruben Amorim made these big types of calls,” Neville said on The Overlap US podcast.
“I don’t think he’s got anything to lose. We’ve seen it all over, ten years, whereby these talented players who haven’t delivered on a consistent basis that will not get Manchester United to the top.
“If you think about what Sir Alex Ferguson did over many, many years. Sometimes some of the major fallouts were with the big players but that was for him to wrestle control.
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“Norman Whiteside and Paul McGrath were let go in his early days and, beyond that, Jaap Stam leaving, David Beckham left and Roy Keane left and Ruud Van Nistelrooy left. Massive players that you thought ‘these are big players, they can’t leave’.
“He did it to wrestle control whether you liked it or didn’t like it, agreed with it or didn’t agree with it.”
“This will be a big transfer window,” Neville added.
“It might not be as big as we think but if Garnacho and Rashford were to go, they would be big moves. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was a mini clear-out and he brought in one or two players.
“Maybe Ruben Amorim has to go basically for the most high-profile players and say, ‘I’m in charge here, I don’t care who you are, I’m the one who is going to be implementing the standards at the football club and if you don’t quite hit them, I don’t care how talented or valuable you are, what the fans think of you, what your pay packets are, you’re done’.”
