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Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has clarified that there are no issues between Manchester duo Erik ten Hag and Marcus Rashford.
Romano also confirmed that the decision to leave Rashford out of United’s starting XI against Crystal Palace was purely because of rotation and nothing else.
United were held to a frustrating stalemate at Selhurst Park on Saturday, with Ten Hag’s men missing multiple clear-cut chances that would have seen them run out winners.
However, most of the talk centred around Rashford and the reasons behind his peculiar exclusion from the starting XI. Indeed, the Englishman headed into the match off the back of getting his first goals of the 2024/25 season. He netted United’s second of a 3-0 win against Southampton and then followed that up with a sensational brace vs. Barnsley in the third round of the EFL Cup.
It therefore raised many eyebrows when Ten Hag opted to bench Rashford in favour of starting Alejandro Garnacho. After the match, the United boss insisted that he went with Garnacho to afford him more minutes, while also giving Rashford a rest to ensure he remains fresh.
England legends Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker seemingly did not buy what Ten Hag said, as they reiterated that it’s highly likely that there were cracks in the relationship between manager and player.
However, according to Romano, everything is fine and speculation of strife between Rashford and Ten Hag caught the club by surprise.
The Italian journalist said on his YouTube channel (via GIVEMESPORT), “At Man United, when they saw those comments in public, in important media before the game, they were quite surprised, because really nothing happened.”
“They made that decision for Marcus Rashford because they wanted to rotate. They wanted the players to be fresh. They wanted to change a bit, also with three games in one week.”
“And so this was the idea, but there was never any problem, never any issue. So all these suggestions made Erik ten Hag really, really nervous. He didn’t accept that.”
“I can guarantee that also internally, Manchester United, they confirmed the same. So it’s not just the manager or staff’s point of view, also the club’s point of view is that Rashford didn’t do anything wrong. Otherwise, he was not going to be part of the squad.”
Romano added, “Erik ten Hag says, and I can confirm this is the case, that this was a rotation, so a technical decision, but not in a negative way. Marcus Rashford was part of the rotation because they have three super important players, plus, obviously, they have Antony, but in terms of important starters at Manchester United, they have Diallo, Garnacho and Rashford, and Erik ten Hag is rotating them.”
“So Rashford started on Tuesday, and the idea of the staff of Erik ten Hag was to change for the Crystal Palace game. So this is why Rashford didn’t play. Rashford entered the second half on the pitch. So Rashford didn’t have any problem with Ten Hag, Rashford didn’t do anything wrong. Rashford didn’t have any problems with his teammates. Rashford didn’t have any problem with the staff.”
United return to action on Wednesday when they host Ten Hag’s former club, FC Twente, in their opening clash of the Europa League.
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