Anthony Martial is "not innocent" in his feud with Ralf Rangnick as he was missing from the Aston Villa clash at the weekend, according to reports.
The Frenchman was unexpectedly left out of the matchday squad during the 2-2 draw at Villa Park, leaving United with just eight players on the bench.
Rangnick was asked about his absence after the game claiming Martial refused to make himself available for the match.
He said in his post-match press conference: "Yes, he didn't want to be in the squad. He would have been in the squad normally but he didn't want to and that was the reason why he didn't travel with us yesterday."
But Martial hit back at the German later on Saturday night, insisting that those claims were wide of the mark.
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He said on Instagram: "I will never refuse to play a match for Man United.
"I've been here for seven years and I never disrespected and never will disrespect the club and the fans."
Rangnick was then advised to bring Martial back into the fold and encouraged to mend his relationship with the forward due to the club's difficulty in selling him this month after he expressed his desire to leave Old Trafford.
The interim boss then explained the contradiction between him and Martial as a misunderstanding on Tuesday in an effort to defuse the situation.
He said: “I said all that needs to be said about that after the game. I nominated him before the game and he was not part of the group. You can draw your own conclusions out of that.
“I had a conversation with him on Sunday about all this and, from my perspective, everything has been spoken about, everything resolved, and no need to add anything on top of that.”
Rangnick did not go into detail over the breakdown in communication and who exactly was to blame, but crucially he stuck by what he said originally.
But it's emerged that Martial has been described as "not innocent", according to The Athletic.
After Martial trained fully, Rangnick asked to get confirmation on whether he could play against Villa.
But the forward is said to have taken the question as an invitation and responded that he felt unable to participate due to a knee injury that he cited when Rangnick took over.
This was relayed to Rangnick who interpreted this as Martial ruling himself out of the game.
The misunderstanding stems from Martial wanting to leave United in January.
The Red Devils willing to grant his wish, but no move has materialised yet due to his high wages.
Any loan deal would have to cover his entire salary, as well as include a fee as Sevilla's offer was rejected after failing to meet those terms.
Martial's agent, Philippe Lamboley, recently confirmed that his client wanted to find a new club.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "Anthony wishes to leave the club in January.
“He just needs to play. He doesn’t want to stay in January and I will speak to the club soon.”
Rangnick was quizzed on the situation following United's narrow win at Norwich City last month.
"I don’t communicate with agents via the media or the press," the Red Devils boss firmly stated. "The player hasn’t spoken with me or with us about it... To be honest, what his agent has said in the media is not that much of interest."
Then asked whether he would speak to the forward about Lamboley's admission, Rangnick added: "No, because then I’d react to what the agent has said.
"It should be the player. If a player wishes to go to another club, it should be the player who informs either the board or myself, whoever.
"I have never spoken to a player via media or agents."
