Gary Neville has labelled Marcus Rashford (Image: STICK TO FOOTBALL/GETTY)
Gary Neville has blasted Marcus Rashford’s decision to spend the first half of the international break on holiday in the United States after he was spotted at a basketball game in Portland.
Rashford and Casemiro were both in attendance across the Atlantic, while other players not selected for their countries were among the first to meet new boss Ruben Amorim at Carrington.
The Manchester United No. 10 has scored just four goals this season and infuriated some supporters when he was spotted at New York’s Madison Square Garden, rather than on the training pitch.
Neville is among those who believe, in the third international break in as many months, Rashford and Casemiro were wrong to travel such a distance on the week United’s new head coach arrived.
« The professionalism, looking after your body and making sure you’re best prepared for the next training session is critical to every decision you make during the season, » Neville opened with on Stick to Football.
« He [Marcus Rashford] has got a mental break, he’s got to get away and has got to rest with friends – then you talk about the choice of venue.
« How far do you fly? What’s the time difference? Is that going to give a jet lag issue? Is that going to give a stiffness issue from being on a flight for 12 hours?
« This is on Casemiro more than Rashford, but if I’m 30 years old and I’m looking after my body – and he’s won five Champions Leagues and is an unbelievable player – but if he were away with Brazil for 10 days, we would say he would struggle this weekend because he’s been away.
« They [Casemiro and Marcus Rashford] have chosen that international break. If you are talking about the minor details in being as professional as you can be and as prepared you can be for a training session on a Monday night, that isn’t the best choice of venue. »
Marcus Rashford was in high spirits in Man Utd training this week. (Image: Getty)
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Neville, although mistaking New York with Portland, doubled down on his stance by questioning Rashford and Casemiro’s professionalism, given United’s struggles on the pitch.
The Old Trafford icon added: « I’m not that wound up about [Marcus] Rashford and Casemiro going over to the United States,
« But what I’m asking is, if you’ve got a four-day break, Portland is a 12-hour flight and an eight-hour time difference, your jetlag is bad, and you feel a bit [rough].
« They went to Portland, and I’m asking the question based on professionalism – you’re playing badly, the team are losing, you’re 13th in the league, and there is a new manager coming in.
« Would you choose that trip as a break to recharge your batteries? That’s not a recharging trip. It’s not right that. »
Ian Wright disagreed with Neville’s argument, hitting back at his fellow Stick to Football personality by defending the United duo’s decision.
« If it’s my time off, then yes, I’d do it [travel to the USA], » Wright explained in a counter-argument.
« Simply because it’s my time off. If you’re going for three or four days, that jetlag won’t cause you too much of a problem.
« Casemiro and Marcus Rashford are taking a chance that this is going to be criticised if they don’t play well – they are accepting what’s to come.
« It puts you under pressure, but then suddenly you can see how quickly it will change if he [Rashford] doesn’t do well in his first game.
« And [if] in the next two or three games, he scores – nobody cares. He’ll go somewhere else because suddenly it doesn’t matter to people anymore. »
Roy Keane also threw his two cents into the debate, somewhat surprisingly taking a laid-back approach by claiming that long-distance holidays are the norm for modern players.
He said: « For [Marcus] Rashford and all these lads, going to the United States and going on private jets, whatever they are doing – like basketball, that’s the norm for them.
« We’re sitting there and going, ‘all the way to the States?’ They [players] would think the States is no big deal.
« We might consider the long flights and the jet lag, but that is their norm. If they were sitting here, they would say, ‘What are you talking about? This is my life, and it’s what I do.' »
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