Marcus Rashford is still the only show in town; there’s juice in pretending a medical is booked and Ruben Amorim has ‘stuck the knife in’…
Marc the knife
Ruben Amorim must be getting a little bored of talking about Marcus Rashford. Indeed, he was pretty clear on Wednesday that he was getting a little bored of talking about Marcus Rashford.
“I promised you I would not give anything about Marcus Rashford, but I’m giving you a little bit. It’s the same thing,” said Amorim, who left the door open for Rashford to return to the Manchester United team if he shows more application in training.
“You can look at our team and imagine the profile of the players. Now imagine a talent like Rashford? Our team should be so much better with Rashford. But he has to change. If he changes, we are more than welcome to put in a talent like Rashford. And we need it.
“We have to set some standards, that’s all. We are waiting for Marcus, if he wants it really, really bad. You try to make it personal but it’s not personal. I have nothing against Marcus. I just have to make the same rules for everybody.”
He literally said “I have nothing against Marcus” and yet…
‘Ruben Amorim takes another swipe at Marcus Rashford and tells Man Utd ace he must change or remain in Old Trafford limbo – The Sun.
‘Another swipe’? He literally said that Manchester United would be a better team WITH Rashford.
‘Ruben Amorim sticks the knife into Marcus Rashford again in latest twist to Man Utd saga’ – GB News.
He’s really ‘stuck the knife in’ with his brutal dig of “we are waiting for Marcus”; he will surely bleed out from that mortal wound.
Spotter’s badge
But before Amorim faced the press and countless questions about a player not in his match-day squad, there was an open training session as mandated by UEFA in which Rashford of course took part.
We have been here before – exactly seven days ago when the media pretended that he had not been training before – and now we are here again…
‘Marcus Rashford spotted in Man United training for the first time since Ruben Amorim claimed he would rather play his GOALKEEPING COACH, 63, as row over intensity ramps up’ – MailOnline.
He hasn’t been ‘spotted’; photographers are allowed into training for an open session the day before every European clash and of course they captured Rashford in a series of images available through every major agency. You can see one such photo at the top of this page.
In The Sun we are told that Rashford ‘was included in Amorim’s final practice ahead of United’s Europa League trip to Romania to face FCSB on Thursday’; and that was ‘despite’ Amorim’s comments about his goalkeeper coach.
Imagine including a first-team player in first-team training…
Medical booked LIVE
But the real juice is in pretending that a medical has been ‘booked’; these are magic words that we have covered on these pages before. That’s the real kerching right there. And as always it’s a Reach and usually it’s the Manchester Evening News and their LIVE blog.
‘Man United transfer news LIVE – Mathys Tel hint, Rashford ‘talks’ open as medical booked’
It reads like a Marcus Rashford medical has been booked because it is absolutely designed to read like a Marcus Rashford medical has been booked.
We are Control F-ing the sh*t out of ‘booked’ to find the exact reference and here we are…
‘Manchester United are reportedly set to sign Ayden Heaven and have booked a medical for the 18-year-old.’
It seems churlish to point out that this ‘medical booked’ news that is not remotely related to Rashford is two days old, deriving as it does from this tweet…
🚨🔴 Ayden Heaven to Manchester United, here we go!
Exclusive story from last week confirmed as 18 year old centre back’s set to leave Arsenal and join #MUFC.
Medical booked after he rejected new deal from Arsenal and Eintracht approaches.
Agreement being formally sealed. pic.twitter.com/Q12q8JC2fs
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 28, 2025
So it’s two days old, concerns an 18-year-old and is absolutely not connected to Marcus Rashford. Has the famed Reach ‘curiosity gap’ become a gaping chasm?
The Truth
Mediawatch wades through dozens of misleading headlines every day but it’s rare that you get an outright lie. So it is to The Sun we go…
Man City land horror Champions League play-off tie as Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa learn their next opponents
Nope. They don’t. They absolutely don’t. You can read all the details of the draw here but one thing that we can absolutely confirm: Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa have NOT learned their next opponents.
Indeed, The Sun admit as much eight paragraphs in, by which time you have already seen three ads and a casino promo…
Arsenal, Liverpool and Villa will all have to wait to find out who advances to the last 16 from the play-off round to discover their opponents for their clashes.
So the headline was a blatant lie? Good to know.
