Marcus Rashford has become a 'distraction' and needs to leave Manchester United in January, believes Gary Neville… as he backs Ruben Amorim over handling of axed striker

Gary Neville has claimed that Marcus Rashford needs to leave Manchester United in January and labelled him a ‘distraction’.

Rashford has been frozen out under new United boss Ruben Amorim, who has omitted the star from his last three matchday squads.

After missing out on the Manchester derby, Rashford was also absent for the Carabao Cup clash with Tottenham. He has now been omitted from the squad for the Premier League game at home to Bournemouth.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville said: ‘If you’d said to me seven or eight days ago whether Rashford could leave in January, I’d say no chance.

‘One thing in the past with players at a big club, if you’re talking to me about it every single week, it becomes a distraction for the manager and the focal point of the press conference, that’s when it does become obvious they have to leave.

‘It’ll probably work for both parties. There’s good examples of players who have struggled at Man Utd and gone on to do better elsewhere – Jadon Sancho at Chelsea, Scott McTominay didn’t struggle but he’s doing well at Napoli.

‘Marcus might think that’s the right thing for him as well.’

‘Something has to change at Man Utd. For 10 years there’s been a lot of the same players delivering the same results.

‘We’ve talked about culture a number of times. If there’s players who aren’t quite fitting in, for one reason for another, if they’ve not got good enough quality, they’ve got to be let go.

‘Ruben Amorim knows now, five managers before him have fallen. Some of those have shown faith in these same players. It’s a case of protecting himself and doing the right thing for himself and the club.’

Rashford has seemingly been frozen out under new United manager Ruben Amorim