Manchester United fans want Marcus Rashford and five others sold as Ruben Amorim reshapes the squad in his image. The Portuguese head coach, 39, has won three of his six matches since taking over from interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy.
In the Premier League, United have lost both of their last two matches – against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest – and sit 13th in the table. They are 16 points off leaders Liverpool and eight adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City.
Amorim is still getting to grips with his squad, having started 20 players and used 30 of a possible 30 substitutes in his six games so far as he comes to grips with his most reliable players. If he wants to make signings next month, United will have to sell to buy.
And in an Express Sport poll, United fans have been deciding which players INEOS and Amorim should offload as he makes changes to the group he inherited from Erik ten Hag.
Just 13.9 per cent of over 9,000 voters said the Red Devils should keep Antony, with a huge 86.1 per cent in favour of selling the Brazilian. Since joining from Ajax for £86million, the Brazilian has produced a mere 12 goals and five assists in 90 appearances – with only five of those goals coming in 57 Premier League outings.
The next player strongly backed to leave is Victor Lindelof. The Swede’s contract expires next summer and with the 30-year-old Swede only a back-up option, and a sufferer of regular injury problems, a whopping 76.8 per cent have voted for him to be released on a free.
Another veteran – Casemiro – also has only a quarter of United fans wanting him to remain at Old Trafford next season. The Brazilian’s form dropped off a cliff in his second year in Manchester under Ten Hag, though there have been some encouraging performances since the Dutch coach was sacked.
But at 32, turning 33 in February, and commanding massive wages of £350,000 a week, 75.1 per cent have voted for the Brazilian midfielder to be sold. The five-time Champions League winner’s contract runs until June 2026, with a one-year option to extend it, so United will likely want a fee to part ways with him.
The third and final vastly experienced player voted out is Harry Maguire, 31. Another big-money signing who didn’t work out, the £80million centre-half has had a tumultuous United career having been stripped of the captain’s armband by Ten Hag and 67.3 per cent of supporters want his spell at the club to end in 2025.
The England international’s deal expires next June but United have an option to extend it by one year to avoid losing him for nothing. That is a clause they will be tempted to activate given Maguire is still a Three Lions regular and might attract interest from several Premier League clubs.
One of Ten Hag’s final signings, Joshua Zirkzee, has clearly failed to win over the Old Trafford fanbase. Signed from Bologna for £36.5m, the 23-year-old Dutchman has returned three goals and two assists in 22 games – though two of those strikes came under Amorim in a 4-0 defeat of Everton.
Still, 63.9 per cent would like to see Zirkzee sold after less than a year at the club. United would likely have to accept a substantial loss on the fee they paid in order to move him on unless they agree to loan him out first.
The most controversial name who more United fans want sold than kept is academy graduate Marcus Rashford. Exactly 56.3 per cent of the respondents to our poll said the 27-year-old former United Player of the Year should be turfed out.
He has directly contributed to 206 goals since his 2016 debut having made over 400 appearances. But after a 30-goal year in Ten Hag’s maiden campaign, Rashford struggled last year and has been criticised for his body language and some of his behaviour off of the pitch in the last 18 months.
Rashford is contract until 2028 and earns £300,000 a week – with options limited should it be agreed that the forward should indeed leave. Paris Saint-Germain and Saudi Arabia appear the only realistic options for the player, who might only attract a fee of £40m or so these days.
Only three players received 80 per cent or more ‘keep’ votes. United fans most want Matthijs de Ligt (81.9 per cent), Lisandro Martinez (87.0 per cent) and Noussair Mazroaui (87.9 per cent) to stay. Meanwhile, 73 per cent don’t want Diogo Dalot to depart and 79 per cent voted to keep the promising Rasmus Hojlund.
Captain Bruno Fernandes, goalkeeper Andre Onana, centre-back Leny Yoro, wingers Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo and midfielders Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo, all expected to be key long-term players for Amorim, and Christian Eriksen – guaranteed to leave United in the next six or seven months – were among the players left out of the vote.
Fans were almost 50/50 split on the likes of Tyrell Malacia (50.4 per cent votes to keep, 49.6 per cent votes to sell), Luke Shaw (53.4 per cent votes to keep, 46.6 per cent votes to sell) and Mason Mount (55.8 per cent votes to keep, 44.2 per cent votes to sell).
