Ruben Amorim said when the player spoke to his manager about the omission rather than reacting to the media like Marcus Rashford did. Manchester United’s head coach is unsure how to deal with the forward, although he is believed to have left him on the sidelines for Thursday’s Carabao quarter-final at Tottenham.
Rashford said in an interview with journalist Henry Winter on Tuesday that he is “ready for a new challenge”. This happened after 27 years, which was active for two seasons, dropped in the United States. 2-1 win against Manchester on Sunday.
Amorim was asked on Wednesday what he would do if he found himself in a similar position to Rashford in his playing career. For 39 years he represented Belenenses, Braga, Benfica and Al-Wakrah and earned 14 caps for Portugal. “I’ll talk to the manager,” he said flatly.
“It’s hard to explain what I’m going to do. I’m a little moved,” Amorim added to the Rashford interview. “We need to prepare for the game and then we’ll see. It’s going to be painful, not the players individually.”
Rashford is believed not to have been with his teammates who traveled to London on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the game. However, Alejandro Garnacho, who was also left out of the Sunday Derby team, is understood to have been in the team.
Amorim was asked if the approach to his business was going quickly. “It is difficult to comment on the situation” [on]he said. “If I give a lot of attention to the papers, the pool will be great and if I say it’s not a problem, my standards are low. My job is not to take my mind off the game and the team and what we did in the last game.”
Amorim is believed to be happy to sell Rashford in January part of the cultural reboot he considers it necessary to transform the club, with the United Hierarchy willing to listen to an offer for the player, who is in a salary of 365,000 seven pounds.
The head coach insisted on Wednesday that he wants Rashford to stay at Old Trafford and has encouraged him embrace “the greatest challenge” but even he admits that he cannot, if his mind is in motion, hold the player.
“I can’t control it, I can control myself, so I see my things to take the players to games and to training,” Amorim said, adding that he has not discussed Rashford’s long-term future with the club’s executives. “It was a conversation” [Tuesday]. I am focused on Tottenham and my focus is to prepare the team for the game. M. We believe that nothing has changed.
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“We have a new challenge here. It is tough. It is the biggest challenge for me in football because we are in a difficult situation and I have already said that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world. I really hope all my players are ready for this new challenge.”
Amorim’s team has been widely reported for Sunday’s derby victory, but he says he can’t find any action on how that happened.
“Now everyone knows about the coaches,” he said. “I explained a lot about the team, how I want us to play, positions etc., because I understand that coaches have information at one time seeing how Manchester United play.
“I’m not in control either” [leaks]. It is more important for my players to go to the game with a clear idea than to try to prevent the starting XI from dropping.