Amorim’s brutal admission could be death knell for Rashford and his Manchester United future as his exile continues.
Amorim’s brutal admission after his side’s victory over Fulham casts further misery over Marcus Rashford.
Instead of Marcus Rashford or any other Manchester United player who wasn’t willing to provide “the maximum,” Amorim stated that he would prefer to use his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach as a substitute.
The manager had to substitute Joshua Zirkzee, who had minimal influence, for his starting center-forward Rasmus Højlund after the latter had a rough game in the team’s 1-0 victory over Fulham on Sunday night.
After becoming dissatisfied with Rashford’s application, Amorim has frozen him out; the plan was to let him go during the January window. Since it hasn’t happened yet, Amorim was asked if Rashford could still be the solution since time was running out. Zirkzee has four goals this season, while Højlund has seven goals in all competitions. Rashford has missed the last 11 games for United; was there any chance he might return?
“It’s always the same reason,” Amorim replied. “The reason is the training, the way I see what a footballer should do. In training, in life and it’s every day, every detail. So if things don’t change, I will not change.”
When the transfer window closes on February 3, Amorim was asked if things would still be the same if Rashford stayed at United. This made him bring his seasoned goalkeeping coach, Jorge Vital, into the spotlight.
“It’s the same situation for every player,” Amorim said. “If you do the maximum, if you do the right things … we can use every player. You can see it today on the bench – we miss a little bit of pace to go, to change the game, to move some pieces, but I prefer [it] like that. I will put Vital [on the bench] before I put a player that doesn’t give the maximum every day so I will not change in that.”
Amorim turns 40 on Monday and he joked: “It’s not 40, I’m 50. After two months at Manchester United, it’s 50. You cannot see a great improvement in the team and that is a fact. But to win helps us to improve. We’ve had some lack of luck in some games. Today was not the best match but we managed to win.”