Ruben Amorim reveals surprise reason he DROPPED Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho in Manchester derby

Ruben Amorim reveals surprise reason he DROPPED Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho in Manchester derby

Marcus Rashford of Manchester United will not participate in Sunday’s highly anticipated Manchester derby, and Ruben Amorim has provided an explanation for the Red Devils star’s absence.

Ruben Amorim claims that his decision to exclude Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford from the team for Sunday’s Manchester derby was solely based on selection.

When Amorim’s matchday squad was revealed earlier on Sunday afternoon, the 27-year-old Manchester United forward was the Red Devil’s greatest absence.

Despite his poor play over the past 18 months, Rashford has scored three goals in the first few weeks of Amorim’s tenure.

Rashford and Garnacho, who was also left out of the team, trained at the club’s Carrington base in the morning, according to the Manchester Evening News.

And Amorim confirmed before Sunday’s match that neither player are injured. He told Sky Sports: “We try to evaluate everything training performance, game performances, engagement with teammates, push their teammates up. Everything is on the line when we analyse and try to choose the players. It is my selection. Simple.

“I don’t want to send a message it is simply an evaluation and they know it. The players are really, really smart. Everybody understands my decision and I have to choose. It is simple selection.

“Of course the context is difficult because we have to win games and we have a difficult situation now. I pay attention to everything, the way you eat, the way you put your clothes to go to a game. Everything. I make my evaluation and then I decide.

“There is a communication after the last training. They are alright. They had training this morning and I was there. They trained really well.”

Alejandro Garnacho
Alejandro Garnacho has also been left out of Manchester United’s squad for the derby ( Image: Getty Images)
Rashford’s absence from the Manchester United team comes days after speculation that the club are preparing to try and sell him to raise transfer funds.

Premier League legend Alan Shearer said that Rashford had to decide ‘whether he wanted’ to star in United’s new era under Amorim or not. When he was asked if Rashford fit into Amorim’s system, Shearer replied: “It’s not so much whether he fits in the system, it’s whether he wants to.

“I saw him three years ago scoring 30 goals a season, so the talent is there. But we haven’t seen anywhere near that for a long time now, so I don’t know if anything’s gone on in his life or anything like that.

“There’s only one guy who can answer [whether he fits] – or two guys with the manager – and that’s him with his attitude, his performances and his belief. But he’s gone from [being up there] to way down in such a short space of time, so clearly something is not right somewhere.

“I don’t see a happy player there.”