It was a conversation with Ruben Amorim at the start of December that goes some way to explaining why Marcus Rashford has been absent from the Manchester United side for the past five matches.

United had just beaten Everton 4-0, with Rashford scoring two of the goals in a vibrant display on Sunday, December 1. But after that game, Amorim heard the forward had been out in Manchester on the Friday night, November 29, less than 48 hours before Everton’s visit to Old Trafford.

The United head coach does not want his players in bars so close to games and asked Rashford about his movements. The England international assured Amorim he had been misinformed about a late night.

Three days later, however, Rashford was left out of the starting line-up for the trip to Arsenal. While rotation was at play, those questions over his social life were also a factor in Amorim’s decision.

Since then, Rashford’s only start has come at Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League, a 2-1 win for United on December 12. After that, he was left out of four successive matchday squads.

The 27-year-old did return to the bench for the visit of Newcastle on December 30, a match for which team-mates Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte were suspended. “We have a lot of players outside,” Amorim said. “Every week I choose my players, he was there to be chosen, and this time he is here.”

That emphasis on “this time” implied there was no guarantee Rashford would be included “next time”, and Amorim declined to introduce him despite United trailing Newcastle 2-0 from the 19th minute, in what could be interpreted as a bigger statement than leaving him out entirely.

Amorim said: “I’m not making a point. I just want to win the game.”

That Amorim appeared to believe United had a better chance of staging a comeback victory with Rashford in a seat in the dugout rather than on the pitch speaks to the wider issues at play.

On Friday, Amorim confirmed Rashford had not trained this week due to illness and would likely be missing from the trip to Liverpool tomorrow. The striker’s future has now become one of the biggest issues confronting United in this transfer window.

“It depends more on him than me,” the head coach told Sky Sports on Friday in regards to Rashford. “He has to want it really, really bad. He’s here. He’s ready to play if I decide.”

The Athletic has spoken to multiple sources with knowledge of Rashford’s situation, who did so anonymously to protect relationships, to understand how a player with the best scoring record in United’s squad, a much-praised and decorated individual owing to his record of charity work, who earns one of the top salaries on a basic £325,000 per week when the club are in the Champions League, can be left out during a crucial period of the season.

It is a complicated situation, but one thing seems clear: Rashford’s prospects of an imminent return to favour under Amorim look bleak.

Since their talk after the Everton game, Amorim has given Rashford 118 minutes of football out of a possible 720.

He played the final half-hour both at Arsenal and in the following match at home to Nottingham Forest, then started against Viktoria Plzen, although Amorim substituted him on 56 minutes after a poor performance.

Two days later, on Saturday, December 14, in the final training session before facing Manchester City the following afternoon, Rashford put in a lacklustre display at United’s Carrington base, according to multiple sources, some of whom said he appeared fatigued.

Claims circulated Rashford had gone out the night before — on the Friday, 48 hours before the game — with accounts reaching people at United. This, however, is strenuously denied by people close to the player. Rashford is also known to feel he does not behave differently from other Premier League footballers but faces much more scrutiny over his social life.

Amorim makes his decisions based on what he sees with his own eyes, in complete consideration of all aspects, and when United’s line-up and squad for the derby at the Etihad Stadium was posted in the team WhatsApp group that Saturday evening, it was clear to the players that their new head coach had taken strong action in a bid to jolt Rashford.

Rashford prepares to come on against Bodo/Glimt on November 28 (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Amorim’s treatment of Rashford is aligned with those above him at United, namely INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford, chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox.

In the aftermath of United’s 2-1 win in the Manchester derby, Amorim indicated he had held talks with executives on how to handle Rashford. “For so long, for example with Rash, you try a thing, it doesn’t work,” he said. “Let’s continue to do the same thing? Or something different?”

Perhaps prime in his mind and theirs was the Belfast episode from last January, when Rashford went partying for two evenings in a row, a Wednesday and a Thursday, and was pictured entering a nightclub hours before being due to attend the Friday’s training at Carrington. He reported ill for that session, and initially told United he had only gone out on the Wednesday.

Rashford’s offer to play in that Sunday’s FA Cup tie away to Newport County was turned down by Erik ten Hag, the manager at the time, with United subsequently saying the forward had “taken responsibility for his actions” and the matter had been dealt with internally. Ten Hag restored Rashford to the starting line-up at Wolves in the league four days later, and he scored in a 4-3 win.

Amorim, though, is opting for a harder approach now.

How to best tap into Rashford’s mindset has been a topic of conversation at United for years and an incident during a session a short time before he went to Belfast provided a trigger for renewed internal discussion.

Steve McClaren, one of Ten Hag’s assistants at the time, was overseeing a small-sided tournament among United’s squad at Carrington. Rashford’s team made the final, which was close in score. As the game went on, McClaren, in his jocular manner, said he believed the contest was Rashford’s to win. In response, the player questioned why additional pressure was being put on him.

Sources say McClaren recognised in that exchange how Rashford required extra attention and, with Ten Hag already across the matter, he shared his thoughts with Brailsford.

The day after the Newport game, a Monday, Brailsford addressed United’s squad for the first time to outline the INEOS strategy, particularly in terms of raising standards across the club. Brailsford’s talk was in the diary rather than a reaction to Rashford’s indiscipline in Belfast, but it seemed to strike a chord with the player. He requested a one-on-one meeting with Brailsford and the pair spoke for 90 minutes.

Locally-born academy graduate Rashford has shouldered much of the focus and expectation at United for several seasons, under a variety of managers, and trying to fulfil instructions for those different approaches would be a challenge for any player. Including caretaker spells, he has played for eight managers/head coaches since his senior debut as an 18-year-old in February 2016. Conversely, he too has proved something of a conundrum for those in charge.

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Ralf Rangnick felt Rashford trained brilliantly but was unable to replicate that level in matches. It perplexed Rangnick, who wondered what might be going on in the player’s life to cause the disconnect between ability and output.

The only clarity came on Rashford’s preference to play on the left. Rangnick needed him to occasionally operate on the right, once Mason Greenwood was no longer available, and explained he could drift inside from there to good effect. But Rashford told him he wished to start on the opposite flank, where he has done the best work in his career.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had wrestled with the same dilemma after the summer 2021 signing of Jadon Sancho, who also liked the left more than the right. In Solskjaer’s last game in charge, the 4-1 loss at Watford that November, Rashford was one of two half-time substitutes, with Scott McTominay the other player going off.

Ten Hag felt he had a good relationship with Rashford, working together in his career-best season of 30 goals in 2022-23, although things soured by the end, with a difference of opinion over the coaching approach. Rashford’s final goal for Ten Hag came in a Europa League game at Porto in early October, where he appeared at his most dangerous in an attacking sense. But the manager took him off at the break due to defensive lapses.

Rashford and Ten Hag at Aston Villa  in October (James Gill/Danehouse/Getty Images)

Last summer, new United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe wanted to get Rashford firing. His salary, which runs until 2028, places him among the highest earners, and Ratcliffe wants value for money. But little appears to have changed in the past six months and so United have changed tack, endorsing Amorim’s decision to leave Rashford out.

With the winter transfer window now open, talks are expected to take place about a potential exit. Rashford has said he is now ready for a “new challenge”, although this came in response to stories that he was available for sale and it could be argued was an acceptance by him that United may have decided his future lies elsewhere. “When I leave, it’s going to be ‘no hard feelings’. You’re not going to have any negative comments from me about Manchester United,” he added in the same interview, posted on X on December 17.

Finding a club willing to match his current wages and part with a transfer fee appears implausible, unless he moves to Saudi Arabia’s Pro League. Such a proposition is not thought to appeal to Rashford at this stage of his career, which is looked after by his brothers and representatives Dwaine Maynard and Dane Rashford. He also has assistance from a personal PR assistant. On New Year’s Day, Rashford posted on Instagram to deny a story linking the agency Stellar with facilitating a potential transfer.

There was further intrigue at Companies House, the UK’s register of companies, where Rashford’s MUCS Investments Limited was issued with a striking-off notice for being two months late to file accounts for 2023-24. The notice states that if the company is dissolved, all properties and rights held are deemed to be bona vacantia and will belong to the Crown. Typically, the action of issuing the notice results in the accounts being filed. Sources close to Rashford say the company is dormant and his accountants are in the process of closing it as he was not using it.

Rashford’s view on possibly leaving United comes after two of his best friends in the dressing room departed during the summer, as Sancho and Aaron Wan-Bissaka signed for Chelsea and West Ham United respectively. He is close with Tyrell Malacia, but has tested the patience of other team-mates at times.

The sale of an academy-produced player would especially aid United’s profitability and sustainability (PSR) calculations and Amorim is on record as saying he can only make January additions to the squad with any money that comes into the club.

Amorim has said he wants to see a change in Rashford, but the forward is waiting for his return to the team, which has now stretched to five games.

Sources report his training levels have been mixed, with some good days and occasional bouts of illness. He was unwell and off work on the Monday after the derby, before attending Button Lane, the primary school he went to, to give out gifts to children and speak in an interview about his position at United. Rashford has also been absent from training for the past two days, which United say was sanctioned owing to illness.

There was a time when Rashford would have been a certainty to start against Liverpool, given he enjoyed some of his best games up against Trent Alexander-Arnold, and he remains one of United’s most potent attackers, even if that is not saying a great deal this season. He has seven goals and three assists, behind only Fernandes (16 goal contributions), Alejandro Garnacho and Amad (both 12).

(Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

His running statistics are slightly up on his career norms. Rashford is covering 10.2km on average per 90 minutes in the 2024-25 Premier League, compared to 9.97km and 9.57km in the previous two seasons, according to Opta. His top speed of 35.35km/h is similar to his past best, while he is making 21.33 sprints per 90, compared to 19.28 and 20.26 in 2023-24 and 2022-23 respectively.

Overall, Rashford has 138 goals in 426 matches for United, placing him 13th in the all-time list, seven behind Cristiano Ronaldo in 12th.

There can be no doubting his quality, but people at United talk about Rashford’s attitude needing to shift to meet the standards required and how, having turned 27 in late October, he should be setting an example for the younger players.

Are his off-field choices impacting the level he can reach when the whistle blows on matchday? Until Amorim and his team sense a meaningful improvement, the prospect of a continued absence, or a departure, will remain.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)