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Ruben Amorim denied that Manchester United would be “embarrassed” if Marcus Rashford proves a prolific scorer for Aston Villa during his loan spell.
The head coach spoke after overseeing United’s 2-0 loss against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, a seventh home league defeat in their opening 13 games, which matches the club’s poorest-ever start, in the 1893‑94 season. The result was made all the worse when Lisandro Martínez was taken off on a stretcher in the second half with Amorim describing the injury as a “serious situation”.
Rashford had a medical on Sunday before moving to Villa for the rest of the season. It is understood the Midlands club will pay three‑quarters of the player’s £365,000-a-week wages and up to 90% via bonus-related payments. Villa will also have an option to buy the former England striker.
United have scored just 28 times in the top flight – only the bottom three clubs plus Everton have scored fewer. With Amorim’s team struggling to find the net he was asked if it would be humiliating for United if Rashford scores many times for Villa.
The 40-year-old Portuguese said: “Humiliating? It’s not embarrassing. When you loan a player – and I don’t think it’s official – you expect him to play and to improve, so there is nothing humiliating there. I understand the question but I am just focused on my players, that’s all. When the window closes, I will be really focused on just our team and to improve our team.”
United are targeting the Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel as a loan replacement, although it is thought the deal is in the balance after United had two bids rejected. Amorim was asked about his potential arrival. “When the window closes we will see the players. I’m focused on improving the team as a group, we need to win more games and we will try to do that, this season is like that. We need small improvements, try to win points, win the momentum, then we had setbacks and we go again.
“But it’s clear we need to improve. We’ll see – there is one more day [of the market], let’s wait until the window closes. We have to improve as a team to score goals and we are trying the best to improve the team. This market is really hard on the clubs to make some deals here. It’s hard.”
Arsenal are also exploring a loan for Tel, who rejected a permanent move to Tottenham after they agreed a £50m fee with Bayern last week.
“We are going to see in the next few days but I think it is a serious situation,” the head coach said about the Martínez injury. “He is not only a great player but a strong character in the dressing room. He felt it and when you are a player, you know when it is something serious. We are here to help him in this difficult moment like he has helped us.”
