Marcus Rashford was unavailable for Manchester United’s FA Cup match against Newport on Sunday because of illness, according to the club’s official line.
But Erik ten Hag has warned he will “deal with” the matter, following reports Rashford was spotted in a Belfast night club this week.
United would not comment on those reports, and said Rashford had “stayed at Carrington to train as he recovers”.
On Friday, manager Erik ten Hag said Rashford was ill and he would see how he recovered before determining if he could make the squad for the FA Cup fourth-round match at League Two Newport.
But, when asked about Rashford’s absence before kick-off, Ten Hag hinted there was more to the situation, saying: “It’s an internal matter. I will deal with it.”
Ten Hag then watched his side survive a massive fright in South Wales as League Two Newport fought back to 2-2 after conceding twice inside the opening 13 minutes.
“He reported ill,” Ten Hag again said after the 4-2 win. “The rest is internal matter. I deal with it, we will deal with it.”
Earlier this season Ten Hag described Rashford taking part in birthday celebrations after United had lost a match against Manchester City as unacceptable.
“I am aware of it and I spoke with him about it,” Ten Hag said in November. “It is unacceptable. I told him. He apologised and that is it.”
Rashford is not the first player to fall into Ten Hag’s bad books. Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho have both been pushed out of the club after fallouts during the Dutchman’s reign.
Ten Hag said there was a “no good culture” when he arrived at United in 2022 and he has encountered disciplinary issues during his Old Trafford tenure.
United misfit Sancho returned to Borussia Dortmund on loan earlier this month after falling out with the Dutchman.
Asked if Rashford was another example of that “no good culture”, Ten Hag said: “I don’t go in this case. We talked before about it, we played a good game, and now we move on.”
Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer called for any issue to be sorted sooner rather than later to avoid Rashford’s talents going to “waste”.
“There’s a huge talent in there with Marcus Rashford, we saw him be disciplined last season when he was late for a meeting, he actually missed a game,” the former England captain said.
“But something is clearly wrong either at home, or his relationship with the football club because he can’t keep doing this. He can’t waste his talent. It’s not right, he needs strong management, someone to get hold of him and say: ‘you know what, you get to the end of your career and you’ll have huge regrets’.
“You can’t have that and you don’t need that. It needs sorting and it needs sorting now – 30 goals last season and four this season.
“When I see him play, it looks a lot of the time as if it he’s got the world on his shoulders and for someone with that amount of talent, it needs sorting out and it needs sorting out now because he can’t waste it.”
additional reporting by PA
