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Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has said he does not know if Marcus Rashford will stay or go in the final days of the January transfer window.
Rashford was seen training with his United team-mates on Wednesday morning but he was not included in the matchday squad for Thursday’s Europa League win over Rangers, with Amorim naming only nine of 12 substitutes. Rashford has not played for United since December 12.
It is more than five weeks since Rashford, 27, told journalist Henry Winter he was ready for a new challenge, but no move has yet materialised despite links with AC Milan and Barcelona.
Asked if Rashford would now be staying at United for the rest of the season, Amorim said: “I don’t know. I really don’t know. Guys, it’s eight days (until the end of the window). We will see in the end of the window what happened. And then we will talk about it in that moment.”
Amorim’s comments came after he was likewise vague on the future of Alejandro Garnacho. The 20-year-old, linked with Napoli and Chelsea, started the Rangers win but asked about his future after the game, Amorim said “let’s see in the next few days”.
After Bruno Fernandes’s stoppage-time winner spared United’s blushes and saw them take a big step towards securing a round-of-16 place in the Europa League, they return to Premier League action at Fulham on Sunday evening.
Last weekend’s 3-1 home defeat by Brighton left Amorim with only three wins from 11 league games in charge. Although he walked back comments suggested this is “maybe” the worst side in United history, he has reiterated his belief United remain too nervous in their play.
With United struggling to adapt to his methods mid-season, Amorim, who is more than two months into his tenure, has said he still needs to build a bond within the squad.
“I think we need that to get that feeling of belonging,” Amorim said. “For that, we also need time to train, to stay together and that is really important. We don’t have that…
“Pre-season, creating, spending three weeks together, creating something, and then you want to create something new with the players.
“I want them to know me in a different way, not always preparing the matches with stress, we don’t have the time to do that. I think it’s really important and I think it’s the secret of teams.
“Even when you have the best players, if you don’t you have that feeling it’s really hard to win so I want to build something like that here. But we need time for that.”
Altay Bayindir started the match against Rangers, with Andre Onana on the bench days after his horrible error led to Brighton’s decisive third goal at Old Trafford last Sunday.
Bayindir put in an assured performance and might well hope to keep the place at Craven Cottage.
Asked about his goalkeepers, Amorim said: “It’s always an even fight but this was rotation, (it) was prepared. I also think about the mistake and then the idea I send to you guys and the fans but the rotation was done, everything was prepared and we deal with that normally.
“We have two really good goalkeepers, they need time to play, they need the space in the team, so this rotation was prepared. But that mistake was my concern but, in the end, we continue with the same plan that we did last week.”
