Illness rules out Marcus Rashford from the Liverpool game amid an uncertain few weeks for the English forward.
Illness means under-fire Marcus Rashford will not play a part in Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Liverpool.
Due to his poor training performance and his demeanour towards his teammates, Rashford, 27, was initially left out of manager Ruben Amorim’s squad for four games.
Amorim, meanwhile, stated that the team would exercise its option to extend Harry Maguire’s current contract through 2026.
But he added Maguire “needs to improve as a leader because we are starving for leaders on the pitch”.
Rashford was brought back into the lineup by Amorim for the December 30 home loss against Newcastle, but he was benched as United lost for the fourth time in a row and went without a goal for the third time in a row.
Candidates for the Serie A championship Rashford has recently been linked to Napoli; if his wages, which exceed £300,000 per week, were covered, United would be open to loaning him.
Before this weekend’s games, United is in 14th place in the league standings.
It was unclear if Rashford would be included in Amorim’s team because midfielder Manuel Ugarte and captain Bruno Fernandes had returned from suspension at Anfield.
But the former Sporting boss has ruled out the possibility.
“At the moment he is ill,” said Amorim. “He is not training and this week he is out.”
Asked about Rashford’s position within the club, he added: “It’s the same situation. We will see in the future, but this is like a normal player and then I make a selection.”