Marcus Rashford is ready and available to play for Manchester United, the Guardian understands, after Ruben Amorim indicated the forward had ruled himself out of contention for the defeat by Brighton on Sunday.
Rashford has not played for United since 12 December and declared five days later that he was “ready for a new challenge” after being left out of the squad for the Manchester derby.
Amorim suggested after the Brighton game that he was working with perhaps the worst team in United’s history and was asked whether he felt let down that a player who could help the side was unavailable.
“No. It is his choice,” the head coach replied. “I don’t want to focus on this bad moment [and say]: ‘In this game we lost [because] Rashford is not here.’ Rashford is out of this moment. I am not going to put [in] a player I don’t believe is the best for the team.”
United are trying to move Rashford out this month, with Milan and Borussia Dortmund among the interested clubs. The 27-year-old is understood to have been doing extra training to stay as fit as possible and is available for the Europa League game at home against Rangers on Thursday. Sources say Rashford is ready to give his best for his boyhood club and has no issue with Amorim.
Amorim said when he dropped Rashford last month that his decision had been based on “the performance in training, the performance in games, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with your teammates, the way you push your teammates”.
Rashford has missed nine matches and it would be a major surprise if he were brought back into the matchday squad on Thursday. He is not interested in a move to Saudi Arabia this month because he believes that would end his ambition of getting back into the England squad but his salary of about £365,000 a week presents a stumbling block for clubs elsewhere.
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United will probably have to pay a sizeable portion of Rashford’s wages if a loan deal is to go through for a player under contract until 2028.
Source: theguardian.com
