Spare a thought, just for a moment, for the Manchester United accountants. Already stressed by the spectre of PSR and Sir Jim Ratcliffe breathing down their necks looking to cut costs at every corner, they must have gone blue in the face when they heard Ruben Amorim talk in his most disparaging terms yet about Marcus Rashford on Sunday night.
When Rashford announced in December that he was “ready for a new challenge”, the money men must have thought the club was at last in for a tidy transfer windfall. But selling Rashford, who has been left out of the squad for 10 of United’s last 11 matches and has not started a game since December 1, has proven a lot tougher in reality. With one week to go until the transfer window shuts, only Barcelona and Juventus remain interested in him.
And any hope of getting a sizeable transfer fee for the striker, either this month or in the summer, was kiboshed by Amorim’s jaw-dropping declaration that he would rather field United’s goalkeeping coach, Jorge Vital, than Rashford. Vital is 63 years old and retired from football 24 years ago. Just two years ago, Rashford was on his way to scoring 30 goals in a season and would go on to sign one of the most lucrative contracts in the club’s history.