Gary Neville believes Ruben Amorim is forcing Marcus Rashford out of Manchester United for self-preservation reasons. Rashford, 27, has not featured for United since the 2-1 away victory over Viktoria Plzen all the way back in mid-December. The Englishman has been linked with AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, but a move away from Old Trafford has so far not been forthcoming. After the Red Devils' 1-0 away victory over Fulham, Amorim blasted the United academy product's performances in training and said he would pick 63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital over him.

In and amongst this drama, United's performances have not improved and they are still 12th in the Premier League. With the transfer window nearing its end, Neville thinks Amorim's public dressing-downs are to try and force Rashford out of the club. Speaking on the 'It's Called Soccer' podcast, Neville referred to Amorim's banishment and verbal takedowns of Rashford and said: "I played in a dressing room under a manager who would defend his players to the hilt. But it gets to a point where managers are being booted out of the club and the players are still staying, year after year, regime after regime.

"I think Amorim has thought ‘It’s you or me and I am going to go for you lot’. I think it is really bad for Marcus Rashford, because it is a stain on his character. "If someone is saying that about you on a regular basis, that he’s not training well, he’s not being professional, his standards are low, I mean it’s really damning on him. I worked with Marcus Rashford a number of years ago now and I don’t believe inherently that he is that individual when he was coming through at United, but I obviously haven’t seen him on the training pitch in the last few years.

"It’s a difficult situation because if he doesn’t get out of the club in the next seven days, and he has seven days to get out of the club to go on loan, I think they’re probably trying to force him out. I think they must be trying to force him out and go on loan to get him out of the training room and out the training ground. That can be the only tactic of speaking like this. "So, for me, I hope Amorim gets Marcus out, because he obviously wants him out and I hope from Marcus’ point of view he can go and play football somewhere else and have a great finish to the season and get his career back on track, because I think it’s sad for both parties.".

Other reports have claimed Rashford would not be against remaining at United and fighting for his place. Rashford has continued to support the club from afar. After the victory over Fulham, he took to his 17 million followers on Instagram and wrote: "Congratulations on the win lads.". In his pre-match press conference for United's final Europa League game against Steaua Bucharest, Amorim doubled down on his comments towards Rashford and said: "If he changes, we will use a talent like Rashford, but at this moment we have to set some standards.

"We are waiting for Marcus if he wants it really badly. It’s not personal against Marcus - I have to make the same rules for everybody. It's the same for any player. Rashford is not selected, that is my choice. He's training, he's not good enough, that's what I tell you.". Join our new MAN UTD WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Manchester United content from Mirror Football. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.