Ruben Amorim: 'I would rather play 63-year-old goalkeeper coach than Marcus Rashford'

Just days after refusing to clarify Marcus Rashford’s possible future at Manchester United, manager Ruben Amorim said he would rather play his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital in his team than the England forward.

Amorim’s scathing comments came after Manchester United defeated Fulham 1-0 away from home on Sunday. Lisandro Martinez scored the only goal in the match, in the 78th minute, as the Red Devils climbed one spot to 12th in the Premier League table.

‘Rashford needs to give his maximum every day’

Rashford did not feature in the match against Fulham, making it the 11th successive game that the 27-year-old has missed for Man Utd. Rashford had said last month that he was seeking a "new challenge" away from Old Trafford but despite being linked to AC Milan, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, the forward has failed to find a club.

Amorim has also refused to pick him in the team despite strikers Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee managing just one goal between themselves since December. After Sunday’s win, the Portuguese football manager said he would not pick Rashford unless he changes his attitude.

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“It’s the same, it’s always the same reason,” Amorim said when asked why he is not playing Rashford. “The reason is the training, the way I see what footballers should do in training, in life, it’s every day, every detail.

“So if things don’t change, I will not change. It’s the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum, if you do the right things, we can use every player. And you can see it today on the bench, we miss a little bit of pace to go and change the game, move some pieces.

“But I prefer it like that. I will put Vital on before I put a player on that don’t give the maximum every day. So I will not change in that department.”

Amorim, who turned 40 on Monday, also said that he is feeling 10 years older at United and that there’s a lot of work left for him to do.

“It’s not 40 … I’m 50!” he said. “After two months at Manchester United, it’s 50. It’s a privilege to spend my 40th birthday here. That feeling of winning and three points is really important for us. You cannot see a great improvement in the team and that is a fact, but the win helps us to improve.

“We’ve had some lack of luck in some games. Today, was not the best match but we managed to win. The important thing is I have a clear idea of what I want to do. Sometimes I’m frustrated. We want to play a different style and we are going to play a different style in the future.”