PA Media/dpa
London
Paul Scholes feels Marcus Rashford has "let a lot of people down” and says the forward should be "banished” from the Manchester United dressing room.
Rashford has not featured in any of United’s last 11 matches in all competitions, with boss Ruben Amorim leaving the 27-year-old out of the matchday squad on all but one occasion.
Speaking after doing so for Sunday’s 1-0 Premier League win at Fulham, Amorim said "the reason is the training, what I think a footballer should do in training, in life and every day”.
He made reference to his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital as he added: "I will put (in) Vital before I put (in) a player who doesn’t give the maximum every day.” Giving his take on the situation on The Overlap Fan Debate, former United midfielder Scholes said: "I think Marcus has let a lot of people down really, with his attitude, and I think that’s what the manager is trying to say.
"You think of the young players coming through the team, think of (Alejandro) Garnacho, they’re looking up to people like Marcus now - he’s 27 years of age, and he’s clearly not training properly.
"I remember years ago when I told the manager (Sir Alex Ferguson) I didn’t want to play in that Arsenal game ... he said to me ‘the worst thing you did is let your team-mates down’, and that really stuck with me because I wasn’t really thinking about that - and now I think Marcus Rashford, he’s doing exactly the same.
"OK, he’s not refusing to play, but in the way he’s behaving and the way he’s training, in a way he is saying I don’t want to be involved with these.
"So I think the fact of letting your team-mates down in that dressing room - he should be banished from the dressing room really. If he’s in and around that and young people are seeing that as an example, the sooner he’s gone the better.” Rashford, whose first match being left out of the squad in this sequence was the Manchester derby was on December 15, said in an interview with journalist Henry Winter two days later that he was "ready for a new challenge”.
After Amorim’s remarks on Sunday, former United defender Rio Ferdinand said he would be embarrassed if he was in Rashford’s position and added: "There’s really no way back for Marcus after that, I don’t think, with that type of comment.”