Erik ten Hag vows to 'deal with' Marcus Rashford over Man Utd absence

Erik ten Hag has vowed to «deal with» Marcus Rashford after leaving the Manchester United winger out of the squad to face Newport County on Sunday.

Rashford reported himself ill on Friday morning and missed that day's training session as a result, but reports later emerged stating the 26-year-old had been spotted in a nightclub in Belfast on Thursday evening.

United initially brushed off the claims and argued the images came from an authorised visit to Northern Ireland on Wednesday but further evidence emerged accusing Rashford of partying before Friday's training, and he was ultimately left out of Sunday's squad.

Ten Hag declined to go into detail on the situation after United's scrappy 4-2 win but did promise things would be handled internally.

«He reported ill. The rest is an internal matter,» he said. «I will deal with it.»

Further pressed on whether he felt Rashford, who was disciplined after being seen in a nightclub in November 2023, had lied to him, Ten Hag added: «We will deal with it.»

In the aftermath of his decision to banish Jadon Sancho over the pair's public bust-up earlier this season, Ten Hag claimed he inherited a United squad with «no good culture» and vowed to hold his squad to higher standards.

When asked whether this was another example of the cultural issues in the squad, Ten Hag responded: «I don’t go in this case. We talked before about it, so I think we played a good game and now we move on.»

Rashford's controversy comes just two weeks after he altered his goal celebration to send a message to critics who had questioned his loyalty and commitment to United. Rashford scored just his fourth goal of the season in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham and hit back at those who he felt had been talking too much about