Ruben Amorim refuses to confirm Marcus Rashford return date as Gary Neville gives damning verdict on ‘inevitable ending’
RUBEN AMORIM will not offer a return date for Marcus Rashford, as United legend Gary Neville insists the England star may have played his last game for the club.
For a third time in eight days, Rashford was left out of Amorim’s match day squad for the catastrophic 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth.
He was in attendance at Old Trafford on Sunday, in a club tracksuit, but has yet to be re-integrated into the squad – unlike Alejandro Garnacho who was, like Rashford was axed for last weekend’s Manchester derby win but has come on as a sub in the last two games.
And former United skipper Neville believes the Rashford situation is in danger of becoming a distraction for Amorim and the club.
He said: “It is not really big team news any more.
“It is something of a norm, a pattern has developed over the last week. It was a surprise last weekend.
“It is getting to the point where you leave him out three games on the bounce something really is obviously going wrong or has gone wrong.
“And it is not looking great for both Marcus’ future at the club or Manchester United keeping him either.
“I suspect it is getting to that point in the journey where it has got an inevitable ending.
“It is a distraction for the manager. It does become obvious that he probably has to leave and that the club want him to leave – it will probably work for both parties.”
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With the January window barely a week away, that prospect may come into focus in the coming days, with Neville citing recent examples of players who have benefitted from a move away.
He said: “There are good examples as well of players who have struggled at United.
“Jadon Sancho has gone to Chelsea and is doing better, Scott McTominay wasn’t struggling but he left to go to Napoli and he is doing well, so Marcus might think it is the right thing for him as well.”
Amorim, meanwhile, still insists there is no disciplinary aspect to the decision to again leave him out – and simply cites the reason as a “selection” matter.
Amorim said: “It’s my decision and it always will be.
“It is selection. I want to see the best of my players and I try different things with different players. That’s my focus.”
Amorim insists he has not ruled Rashford out of the Boxing Day visit to Wolves but did not offer any clarity.
He said: “It depends. We will see.”