Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has said that Marcus Rashford is out of The Red Devils’ Premier League clash against Liverpool on Sunday with illness.
The Portuguese has already stamped his authority on the dressing room at Old Trafford by omitting Rashford from most of his matchday squads since he took over the reins from Erik ten Hag back in November.
The England forward has not featured for United under Amorim since he was substituted in the 2-1 UEFA Europa League victory over Viktoria Plzen on December 12, where Rasmus Hojlund’s double spared the English side’s blushes late on.
Rashford has since missed big games for United, including the remarkable late turnaround at the Etihad Stadium where they beat neighbours Manchester City 2-1 and the Carabao Cup quarter-final goal-fest where they were edged out by Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 in north London.
Now, Rashford will miss out on another huge game as United seek to arrest their run of four straight defeats when they visit Anfield this weekend.
However, that will be no easy task with Arne Slot’s Reds six points clear at the summit of the Premier League table, while United languish in 14th, leading to Amorim being asked about whether relegation was a real possibility after a 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle United to end 2024.
“At the moment he is ill,” said Amorim at his pre-match press conference.
“He is not training. He is going to be out this week.”
However, Amorim did mention that Harry Maguire, who was stripped of the captaincy by Ten Hag, will have the optional extension in his United contract triggered.
“We are happy to continue with Harry,” Amorim said of the centre-back, who has started United’s last four league games, coming into the side for the Manchester derby win.
“We will trigger our option. He needs to improve as a leader because we are starving for leaders on the pitch.”
The former Sporting Lisbon head coach also said that Amad Diallo, a standout performer in Amorim’s short reign so far, will also have his deal extended, with the Ivorian’s contract set to expire at the end of the current campaign.
Amorim kept quiet when asked about whether United would do any transfer business in the now-open January market, but the Portuguese did admit that “we will try to do something”.