Former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen has questioned Ruben Amorim’s decision to publicly criticise wantaway striker Marcus Rashford.
Rashford has expressed a desire for a “fresh start” away from Old Trafford and has not played a single minute across United’s last 11 games as he attempts to engineer a move from his boyhood club.
His relationship with Amorim appears to have deteriorated further with the Portuguese outlining last night why Rashford was not in the squad for the 1-0 win at Fulham.
Speaking after the game at Craven Cottage, Amorim said: “It’s always the same reason. 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.”
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Amorim would rather play 63-year-old than Rashford
Amorim said the situation would remain the same if Rashford’s attitude did not improve and claimed he would rather have his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital on the bench than the England international.
“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.”
The situation shows no sign of being resolved but Meulensteen, who helped Sir Alex Ferguson to three Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2008 during his time as first-team coach at United, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It’s never a good thing to highlight personal issues with a player in public.
“It reminds me of the [Erik] Ten Hag v [Jadon] Sancho situation. There are certain things in the world of football that I think you need to keep in house and this is one of those things with Rashford.
“It does nobody any favours. Not the players. Not the manager and not the club.
“The comment will carry a lot of weight and it could go in the wrong direction.”
Meulensteen recommends Amorim refrains from making headlines
It is not the first time Amorim’s comments have made headlines. Last week, following the 3-1 defeat to Brighton, he said the current United team “might be the worst in the club’s history” before backtracking and claiming he was talking about himself.
And Meulensteen thinks he may need to rein in his honesty moving forward.
He said: “Overall Ruben Amorim’s a very straightforward guy, very honest guy and he says what he thinks.
“I don’t necessarily think he completely sees the size of the task ahead of him.”
On Rashford, he added: “If I was Rashford, I would make every means work to see if I could get that transfer over the line, no matter how.
“It would be best for all parties. It would be good for Rashford to rediscover himself in a new league.”
