Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim questioned the decision-making of Marcus Rashford's advisers after comments about his future at Old Trafford.
Rashford was quoted in an interview with Henry Winter as wanting “a new challenge” after being left out of the Red Devils' win over Manchester City earlier this month.
Since then, the 27-year-old has been left out of Amorim's last three matchday squads, including their EFL Cup defeat to Tottenham and Sunday's defeat to Bournemouth.
This season, only Amad Diallo (eight) and Bruno Fernandes (eight) have been involved in more goals than Rashford (five) in the Premier League.
And Amorim is keen to separate the off-field choices made by those around Rashford to help the forward return to his ranks and help him improve as a player.
“It's a difficult situation. I understand that these players have a lot of people around them, who make choices that are not the player's first idea,” Amorim told Sky Sports.
“They chose to do the interview because it's not just about Marcus. Right now I'm focusing on improving him. We need a talented guy like Marcus and I'm forgetting about the interview now.
“We will deal with the future when the time comes.”
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United will be hoping to get back to winning ways against Wolves on Boxing Day and start the day in 13th place, which is their lowest ever Premier League position at Christmas.
In the history of both the Premier League and the English Football League, the Red Devils have won more games and scored more goals on Boxing Day than any other team (22 wins, 74 goals in the Premier League, 54 wins, 202 goals all-time times).
United have also won seven of their last eight Premier League games against Wolves, with the exception of a 1-0 home defeat in January 2022.
But they have lost three of Amorim's six league matches, while Rashford has scored three goals in his six appearances under his new manager in all competitions.
The Portuguese manager initially cited “the performance in training, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you treat your teammates” as reasons for leaving Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out of the Manchester derby.
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