Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou said he was not interested in the noise surrounding Marcus Rashford's future at Manchester United ahead of their EFL Cup tie on Thursday.
Postecoglou wants to take Spurs one step closer to ending their trophy drought, which dates back to their success in this competition in 2008.
But the pre-match preparation was dominated by Rashford's future at Old Trafford after he was left out of the Red Devils' 2-1 win over Manchester City last Sunday.
The United striker said in an interview with Henry Winter published on Tuesday that he was “ready for a new challenge” after 18 difficult months in Manchester.
Postecoglou has said he wants to improve Spurs' attack, despite his side being only behind Chelsea for most goals scored in the Premier League this season.
'There's always noise about Manchester United, come on mate. Where have you been?' Postecoglou said when questioned about Rashford.
“Not interested. Doesn't matter. Not interested. He's a Manchester United player. A very good player, they have plenty of good players, but I manage my players and other managers will manage their own.”
“As far as Marcus' situation is concerned, I have no real desire to investigate it further.
“If I looked at everyone we were connected to, I honestly wouldn't have time to do anything else. I need other people to do that part of the process.
“For us, we've been pretty disciplined in what we're trying to build here, and we'll continue to be that way.
“That's not on my radar. You can ask me about Marcus, but you can ask me about any Premier League footballer and I'll say the same thing.”
Spurs are in action at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after an impressive 5-0 win over Southampton on Sunday.
They scored five goals in the first half of a Premier League match for the first time ever, while their eight shots on target were the most ever in the first 45 minutes of a match (since 2003–04).
And they will be confident of reaching the semi-finals of the competition given their previous records in the EFL Cup and against Thursday's opponents.
Tottenham have improved from their last four EFL Cup quarter-finals (2014/15, 2018/19, 2020/21, 2021/22) since losing 2-1 to West Ham in 2013/14.
They are also unbeaten in their last four games against United (W2 D2), all in the Premier League, having already beaten them 3-0 this season. However, they have not won consecutive games against them since April 1990 (three in a row).
But Postecoglou said Spurs still had a lot of work to do after being reminded of his comments earlier this year about always winning a trophy in his second season at a club.
“I haven't repeated it often, but if you ask me a question, I will answer it. So if you ask me 100 times, I'll answer it 100 times, but I don't walk around with banners saying, 'I win things in my second year,'” Postecoglou noted.
“I don't think the quarter-finals are close. If you reach a final then I think you are close. There is still quite a bit of football to be played. All we can do is be ready for tomorrow night.”
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