Marcus Rashford has been marginalised and put up for sale by Manchester United as part of a cultural reboot deemed necessary to transform the club after standards were allowed to decline for more than a decade.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is intent there can be no passengers and is ready to cut his losses on Rashford if there are suitors in January. A willingness to take short-term pain in pursuit of long-term gain was also behind Dan Ashworth’s exit as sporting director after five months when United had paid £5m to bring him from Newcastle.
Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were dropped by Ruben Amorim from the squad for Sunday’s derby win at Manchester City and whereas a way back is regarded as possible for Garnacho, the feeling at the club is that Rashford’s time is up.
Amorim has decided Rashford needs to leave in the push to engineer a shift in culture throughout the club, for football and non-football staff.
United would countenance a cut-price offer for Rashford. A move in January would be ideal, though his salary of £365,000 a week means only a few clubs could afford him.
Ratcliffe, the largest minority shareholder, believes a decline in values at United has been allowed since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013. When assessing Amorim’s candidacy after Erik ten Hag’s sacking in October, Ratcliffe was impressed by the Portuguese’s willingness to address the level of change required.
Amorim said on Sunday in reference to Rashford and Garnacho: “It is important the performance in training, the performance in games, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with your teammates, the way you push your teammates.” The head coach also said the pair would be competing for a place in the squad for Thursday’s Carabao Cup tie at Tottenham and Sunday’s game at home to Bournemouth.
Ratcliffe’s view is that previous managers have attempted a revolution but were hampered by a lack of support and is determined there will be alignment from top to bottom on the matter.
Ashworth left last week by mutual consent. The Guardian understands however that the working relationship between him and Ratcliffe made Ashworth’s role untenable.
There is a recognition that the optics of his exit after only 159 days are poor but Ratcliffe is clear that this and other potentially painful decisions will be best in the long run.
