Neville apologises after Rashford & Casemiro unprofessional over USA jet-setting

Gary Neville has apologized after criticizing Manchester United stars Marcus Rashford and Casemiro for traveling to the US during the international break.

With United languishing in the bottom half of the table after their worst ever start to a Premier League season, Erik ten Hag was sacked last month after more than two years at the helm.

Ruud van Nistelrooy briefly took over as interim manager before United appointed Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim as their new head coach.

With the 39-year-old set to take up his responsibilities after the international break, some United stars took the opportunity to relax in their time off.

Rashford and Casemiro were criticized by Neville after traveling across the United States, with Rashford watching an NBA match between New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets at Madison Square Garden last Friday.

Meanwhile, Casemiro traveled to Orlando during the international break and posted photos of him and his family at Disney World and attending an Orlando Magic game.

“The professionalism, taking care of your body and making sure you're well prepared for the next training session is vital to every decision you make during the season,” Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet .

'He's on a mental break, he needs to get away and rest with friends – then you talk about choice of location, how far are you flying, what's the time difference, is that going to cause a jetlag problem? , is that going to cause a stiffness problem if you're on a flight for 12 hours?

'This is more about Casemiro than Rashford, but if I'm 30 years old and I take care of my body, and he has won five Champions Leagues and is an incredible player, but if he was away for ten days with Brazil, we would doing.' saying he would have a hard time this weekend because he was away.

'They opted for that international breakthrough. “When you're talking about the little details of being as professional as possible and being as prepared as possible for a Monday night training session, that's not the best choice of venue.”

However, in an interview with Amorim, Neville appeared to walk back some of his comments after realizing the pair had actually traveled to New York instead of Oregon.

“I made a comment this week about Casemiro and Marcus Rashford traveling to America on their few days off,” Neville said.

'I only thought as a Manchester United player when I played here.

'You've got a few days off, the club is 13th in the league, the manager has just been sacked, it's a challenging part of the season and the new manager is about to attack.

“And that focus and preparation and every little detail is very important, and I said I don't think I would have chosen that trip to go to America because of the time difference. I was wrong: they went to New York instead of Portland, so I apologize for that.

'But there is still a time difference of five to six hours. They're on planes, Casemiro is thirty years old.'

Amorim will look to kick-start his reign at the club with a win when United travel to Portman Road to take on Ipswich on Sunday.