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Ruben Amorim has said Marcus Rashford had to leave Manchester United because he could not get the forward to buy into his ideas.
Rashford joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the season after falling out of favour under Amorim.
And the United head coach has hinted that, because he couldn’t get through to the 27-year-old England international, he had to be exiled.
“What I say is I couldn’t put Marcus to see the way you’re supposed to play football and to train the way I see it,” Amorim said.
“And sometimes you have one player who is really good with one coach and the same player with another coach is different. I just wish the best to Rashford and Unai Emery, and they can connect because he’s a very good player.”
Rashford scored the first goal of Amorim’s reign in the 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town in November. He also started games against Everton and Viktoria Plzen.
But after being omitted from the squad for the Manchester derby in December, he featured in just one more matchday squad before being allowed to move to Villa Park.
“The case was some of the guys don’t adapt the way I see football, the other guys adapt, and we are trying to build the team,” Amorim said.
“It’s something that you feel, as a coach and a player. It’s quite normal, it happened with a lot of coaches. The important thing is that I’m here saying it was my decision.”
Amorim is preparing his team for their FA Cup tie against Leicester City on Friday. It will see the Portuguese coach go head-to-head with Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was caretaker manager of United immediately before Amorim arrived.
Van Nistelrooy expressed an interest in being part of Amorim’s staff at Old Trafford only for Amorim to insist on a clean break.
“It was not a difficult situation, because it was so clear for me, I just had to explain,” Amorim said.
“I think it is really simple. He understands, he is a man of football, he understands this situation. I have my team and my staff.
“I could keep Ruud because it was a good thing for me, a popular thing to do. But I will not put Ruud in front of my guys, no matter what, and then I had to put a person like Ruud in the end of the hierarchy on my staff, and I think that was not fair on Ruud. To show respect to Ruud I was really clear with him, I explained I have my team and I will continue the same way, and I will not put a guy like Ruud, a legend of this club, in the end of the hierarchy in the staff.
“So was the clear decision, really simple to explain and he took it like a class guy as he is.”