Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær has suggested that Ruben Amorim might have been able to do more to help Marcus Rashford, before the home-grown forward was ultimately banished and sent on successive loans.
Rashford scored the first goal of Amorim’s reign in November 2024, but found himself dropped the following month and did not play for the club again before joining Aston Villa on loan that January. Throughout the saga, the Portuguese coach regularly cited Rashford’s application in training (or lack thereof) as a reason for his exit.
This season, Rashford been rediscovering his form on loan with Barcelona. Solskjær, who was in charge when the player scored 20-plus goals in successive seasons in 2019–20 and 2020–21 believes that renewed enjoyment is behind his improved output in Spain.
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“I’ve not spoken to Marcus since, since I left… texting a little bit. It’s circumstances,” Solskjær said on the new episode of Stick to Football, on The Overlap network.
“I don’t know what’s happened in Marcus’s life, but you can see he’s enjoying himself now in Barcelona. It looked like he didn’t enjoy himself [at Manchester United] at the end.”
Rashford had earlier thrived under Ole Gunnar Solskjær. / Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images
Solskjær didn’t reference Amorim specifically, but gave his view that the manager at any club should be getting to the bottom of why a player might not be happy, especially if it affects performance. The Norwegian also appeared to dig at how things played out very publicly.
“All the pressures, every single one is different… the pressure of life, the pressure of football. We don’t know what’s happened to players when you walk in, in the morning, and see them grumpy,” he commented. “That’s the manager’s job, [to] speak, ‘What’s up? I can see something’s wrong.’ And you don’t talk about that in the media most of the time.
“We don’t really know what’s happened, you just want him to do well because he’s an incredible player when he’s in form and he’s happy, and when he’s got energy.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjær (left) and Jadon Sancho briefly overlapped in 2021. / ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images
Another manager-player falling out that happened all too publicly was that between Jadon Sancho and Erik ten Hag. Sancho is on a third consecutive loan out of the club, spending this season at Aston Villa. He was signed under Solskjær in 2021, but the former boss laments getting precious little time with someone who formerly one of the most exciting young wingers in Europe.
“We wanted players who could break teams down, and Jadon, with his skill, link-up play, and little passes around the box, gave us that,” Solskjær explained.
“He was unlucky though. Before he joined, he went on holiday and ended up getting an ear infection. He was in hospital, and really struggled for his first 10 days or so before he could even start training with us. That hasn’t previously come out before. I never really got to play with him properly, because by the time he was finding form again, I was already on my way out.”
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