ManchesterWorld Q&A: Rashford future, Manchester United’s January spending and more

National World - LocalTV

All the latest from Manchester United with Rich Fay from ManchesterWorld.com.

Transcript

00:00Ever since then, it's been a bit of a slight downfall. Obviously, he missed England international

00:05duty, which he was quite disappointed about. It's been a bit of a strange one in terms

00:11of the Manchester United situation now, different manager change. It's not really looking like

00:17an amazing situation for him and he's been touted to be going, rumoured to be going elsewhere.

00:22What's the latest you can tell us on him and is there a way back to his best at Manchester

00:28United or do you think that his race is run?

00:32It's a very interesting one in that regard because he is obviously an exceptional player

00:36and everyone now knows that he has got that world-class ceiling. He's got 30 goals in

00:40that 10-hard campaign you mentioned and then there's been a massive drop-off since then,

00:45whether that's down to personal issues off the pitch or whether he's just finding it

00:48difficult to have the new motivation. He admitted himself after his drop from the derby win

00:54over Man City that he was ready for a new challenge. Ruben Amirim handled it rather

00:58well by saying, look, we can give him that challenge here at Old Trafford. I think it's

01:02become abundantly clear in the last few weeks that Marcus Rashford will be best suited continuing

01:06his career elsewhere. 27 now, had two decades at the club and it does feel like for both

01:12him and United they just need this fresh start and this clean break. The issue is how you

01:17actually go about orchestrating that in the January window. United's interest would be

01:21for a permanent sale but there doesn't really seem to be any club that can match that transfer

01:27valuation and the wage demands that he commands. AC Milan are the team most hotly linked at the

01:32moment with a possible low move to the end of the season. So much can change in the transfer

01:37window though and I understand these videos can become very quickly outdated as well. I'd say

01:41right now I do still expect him to leave in January. I expect him more likely to leave

01:47than to stay and you mentioned another good point there. It's the England situation. He wasn't

01:52included in the European Championship squad. He's been a non-event and someone people don't

01:58even talk about in terms of England recognition right now. I was told it was too cold starting

02:02his role as England manager. Rashford needs to get back into the England squad as quickly as he can.

02:07He's 27 now. You'd expect he's got the next World Cup in his sights and then beyond that

02:13he might be getting to the stage where it'd be about international retirement anyway.

02:16But yeah, for Marcus Rashford a solution needs to be found. Ruben Amorim doesn't have a clear

02:21role for him in his United squad and it feels like it'd be best for all parties if he were to leave this month.

02:28And looking at the transfer business in general, now obviously as you mentioned January can be

02:33quite a hard month to navigate even for Manchester United. I mean, you know, as soon as any transfer

02:39window opens there's Manchester United rumours in and out. I'm sure it's tough for you as a journalist

02:44covering the club sometimes to know what sort of, you know, valuable news and what sort of

02:49isn't just rumours to get the clicks. But Manchester United are always involved in so many different

02:54stories. Is there any, you know, solid business that Amorim could be doing this month or

03:00what's the sort of stance with the ownership as well? How much will they have to say on

03:05business this month? So we were told right from the offering that United don't really have a transfer

03:10budget this month. In the sense that they're not ruling out business whatsoever but primarily it

03:16most likely be loan deals or free agents. Similar to what we've seen in past Januarys. We've seen

03:21Odio Nogalo come in under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. We then saw Weghorst, Sabitzer, you know,

03:26Sergio Reguilon, Martin Dubravka. Those sort of deals we've seen in recent years. They're the ones

03:31I'd expect more than any this window. If United need to get some bodies in more than

03:36anything, Ruben Amorim would love a left wing back and he would love a striker. Those are the two

03:41positions he wants the most. The issue then is, can you get someone who's good enough long term

03:46this month? If not, you've got to delay it to the summer but you could get someone in, you know, again

03:51this month. Someone like Sergio Reguilon who they had who can do a job at left wing back but wasn't

03:55the long-term solution there. So they're the two positions United are most likely to

04:01add to this month. There's also an ongoing deal at youth level for Diego Leon who plays for a

04:06Paraguayan club. United are working on that in the background. There's still hope that can be

04:11agreed but he isn't allowed to join that until he turns 18 in April anyway. So United could make

04:16an agreement this month for Diego Leon who's a young Paraguayan left back but he wouldn't be

04:20able to join until the summer anyway. And because United don't have a budget, it basically means if

04:25they do want to sign anyone permanently, they've got to get rid of players first. Marcus Rashford,

04:29huge incentive to sell him because he's an academy player. So in the new world of PSR and FFP,

04:35it means if United sell Rashford, it counts as pure profit on the balance sheet. So there's a

04:39huge incentive to sell him. Casemiro is another player who could leave this month. Understand

04:43there is interest from Saudi Arabia in him. Again though, Saudi Arabia, just because they've got

04:49lots of money, doesn't mean they can give United the fee they want for Casemiro. United maybe don't

04:53want to sell them this summer, just this window, sorry, just because it leaves them light in those

04:58two positions. But if they're ever going to get a fee for them, it has to be now or you've got to

05:02give them a new contract. So Ericsson and Lindelof, you know, I wouldn't stand against

05:06selling this month if offers came in. And then there's a whole plethora of players, people like

05:10Joshua Xerxe. United aren't actively looking to sell him, but if an offer came in that was close

05:15to the fee they paid for him last summer from Bologna, then you sense that they would accept

05:19that and they'd give Amirim the chance to reinvest the money into a player more in his mould as well.

05:24So in terms of new arrivals, I'm not expecting May this month. We know United are looking at

05:29Randall Koulamwane at PSG, but Juventus and Tottenham are looking at him as well. So it's

05:35still very much up in the air and you can expect the likes of Harry Amath and Dan Gaul, two highly

05:40rated youngsters, to leave on loan as well. Yeah, and just looking at Manchester United's

05:45next challenge, you know, FA Cup time and it's a trophy that they are defending, of course.

05:51I mean, surely it's going to be high up on their priority list. But then also looking at

05:55the draw at Anfield, I mean, a lot of positives on that United performance. It seemed they were,

06:02you know, more resilient, more sort of solid and going forward as well, they had some good success.

06:07How do you sort of look at that FA Cup game? Is it sort of viewed as a big priority for

06:11Ruben Amirim to retain that title this season? I think given the poor start to life Amirim's

06:17had at Old Trafford, it very much is so. I think that the challenge, not only United managers,

06:23but the managers of most of those top, the traditional top four, probably the top eight now

06:27in the Premier League, they all have that trophy question mark held against them. And until they've

06:31won a trophy, it's always going to be a burden on their shoulders. Ten Hag went too much the other

06:37way, where he used the trophy success to sort of excuse the poor form in the Premier League. The

06:43Premier League is always going to be your bread and butter, as I imagine. You've got to be

06:46challenging for the title seriously every single year, and you've got to long-term be challenging

06:50for the Champions League as well. You almost take for granted, traditionally, that United

06:54win out of the FA Cup or the League Cup. So it's not the barometer of success at Man United winning

06:59the FA Cup. If United finished bottom half and won the FA Cup, it would not be a successful season.

07:04There's no way of painting it that way, even if Amirim took charge for over half of it.

07:10And I think in terms of Arsenal this weekend, what United need to see,

07:14it's not necessarily victory at the Emirates. If they lose this weekend, but put in a marked

07:19improvement on that Premier League display against Arsenal last month, then that's probably

07:24good enough. That's another sign that they're in the right direction. The Anfield draw last weekend

07:29felt like a point gained. But Bruno Fernandes said after the game, look, it's so easy to get

07:34motivated for Liverpool away. He's worried about Southampton at home next week. And Arsenal away

07:38this weekend as well is another game in which United go in as underdogs, almost a bit of a

07:43free hit to just show what they're made of, to give it a real good go and hopefully win the tie

07:50on the day. But ultimately, it will not define their season. United want to go there. They want

07:55to show that they've improved from their last visit to the Emirates. They want to make sure

07:58they don't concede from two corner kicks again as they did last time. And I think this weekend,

08:03that's what it's all about. It's a clear sort of mark to show how far they've come.

08:09Amarim said, look, as soon as we start having midweeks off, there'll be a huge improvement.

08:13United had last week off. They went to Anfield and they were much better. They've had another

08:18free midweek. So we have to expect much better from them when they go to play Arsenal this weekend.

08:23I think that's what United fans are looking for. They're not going to be too upset if they do lose

08:26because Arsenal are just a better football club at this moment in time. But they will be disappointed

08:31if the performance isn't much better than their last trip to the Emirates.

08:35So, Rich, looking at Manchester City, and obviously just reviewing their performance

08:40against West Ham, 4-1 at home, Haaland backing the goals, Foden as well getting on the scoresheet.

08:47I mean, it's sort of a bit of a Pep Guardiola result, isn't it, that we've come to expect from

08:51the last two seasons, how any team can go there and just come away and can be battered on the day.

09:00Obviously, West Ham, not in the best of form and Jadon Opetegui hasn't really got much going for

09:06him at the moment there. But a real Man City result. Haaland, man of the match. He's backing

09:11the goals and FPL managers, I'm sure, will be looking to maybe even question getting him back

09:16in. He has still got a number of goals for Manchester City this season. Not to say are

09:23they back, but it looks as if they are going to really go on a run and maybe take some positives

09:29from this game. You know, they've got some fairly decent fixtures coming up, maybe PSG, Chelsea's

09:35the next time you look, which is obviously the end of the month, but a few fixtures that they

09:38can focus on and maybe get back to that best. And it's a bit of leeway before that, you know,

09:44clearly the Champions League is going to be their high priority this season.

09:49Yeah, it's a really fascinating run of games coming up. I think there's obviously got to take

09:53positives because there haven't been a lot of positives lately for City and the fact that they

09:57did return to what was a rather straightforward win has to be seen as a step in the right

10:03direction. Pep Guardiola, though, did warn after the game that, look, this doesn't mean that the

10:08season has been a turning point, doesn't mean everything's suddenly going to be fixed. There are

10:11clearly some fundamental issues that the Etihad that just haven't been addressed so far and they

10:16continue to not be. And that win doesn't solve those root causes. Salford's at home in the FA

10:22Cup this weekend. You sense that's another chance to grow in confidence. The argument is always,

10:27why don't you just play the kids and make wholesale changes? I do think City will make a

10:31lot of changes this weekend, but it probably is a chance to get further confidence and more goals

10:35in some of these players who have been underperforming and who have just not clicked

10:39so far this season. But what is so fascinating is that run of games. Brentford away coming up

10:46as well in midweek. That is going to be so, so tough because we've seen how good Brentford can

10:52be this season. Then they've got Ipswich away as well, which looks like it should be pretty

10:56straightforward. But Ipswich are now one of the informed teams in the league over the last couple

11:00of games. You've obviously got Liam De Lappe. That's the story in itself, isn't it? The guy

11:05that City have sold. They've got a buyback on him. He looks like one of the players who'd be a

11:08breakout in Premier League this season. PSG away in the Champions League. I mean, PSG have been

11:14as bad as City in Europe this season, but both of them know that one win can alter their campaign

11:19and due to the new format can get them effectively qualification to the next round. Then it's Chelsea

11:24at home. Cole Palmer returned to the Etihad again. You'd expect them to beat Club Brugge.

11:29And then there's the run of games that looks tougher and tougher every time you look at it

11:34towards February. Arsenal away. Newcastle at home. Liverpool at home. Tottenham away, who always have

11:41this jinx over City. And then Forrest away at the very start of March. And is there any team you'd

11:48back to win all those games in the Premier League right now? No. Would you back the City team? Not

11:52at all. So my word of warning would be don't get carried away just yet on Man City.

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