Ruben Amorim responds to Gary Neville's criticism of 'unprofessional' Marcus Rashford

Ruben Amorim has responded to criticism of Manchester United duo Marcus Rashford and Casemiro following their trips to New York - by pointing the finger at the club's hierarchy.

The Red Devils pair flew to the USA over the international break after not being included in the England and Brazil squads for their respective fixtures. Their trips did not go down particularly well with former United star Gary Neville.

He slammed the pair as “unprofessional” for taking those trip with a new manager on the way in. He reiterated that view in an interview with Amorim, asking the Portuguese coach if he was “comfortable” with the pair’s actions.

He replied: “The first thing is it was five days off. The second thing is they received information of five days off and they are big boys, they have kids so they decide what to do.

“The main question here is the club have to set the standard and manage that. It's my decision if they can have five days as a coach, or three days. Or is three days to rest, you cannot fly. This is something the club has to decide.”

Amorim then suggested that while players have to take some blame, those higher up in the club hierarchy are also responsible. Asked if he would have approached things differently, Amorim said: “Yes, for sure. But you cannot put this on the players. They told them they have five days off so they can fly anywhere.

"Nobody in the club said they cannot fly. They have to live their lives because they are grown men and they have to decide these things. Us as a club have to change in these standards.

Gary Neville has criticised Marcus Rashford's US trip
(Image: Getty Images)

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“In your time you had a great leadership at the club, very strong and the culture was already here when you start. So it was a long time with the same identity, the same way of seeing things and you felt that even if you do that, your team-mates will talk to you.

“Now it's a different point, you have to acknowledge that. This must be started in the club, with us. We are responsible in that area. We cannot in this time put that of Rash or Casa. They receive the information five days off, do what you like. We as a club have to set better standards and we will try to do that.”

Casemiro and Rashford will hope that their trips have not harmed their chances of being included in Amorim’s first starting line-up as United boss. The Red Devils take on newly-promoted Ipswich at Portman Road on Sunday.

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