Amorim: We need big talents like Rashford

The 27-year-old was not involved in Sunday's remarkable comeback win against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, but trained at Carrington in the hours before the derby.

Our new head coach sat down at Carrington for an early press conference on Wednesday morning, to preview Thursday night's Carabao Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur.

And one of the first questions put to the Portuguese concerned the next steps for Marcus, who has scored 138 goals since making his first-team debut in 2016.

"I spoke with a lot of players individually and during training," Amorim explained.

"What I want is to take the best of Marcus Rashford and the other players. Don't talk about future – talk about present. I want the best, I want to win and help the team be better. We are better with Marcus Rashford and that's simple. We have to push him to the level he's shown in the past.

"This kind of club needs big talent. He's a big talent so you just need to perform at the highest level. That is my focus. I just want to help Marcus."

The 39-year-old revealed that he had not spoken to Rashford since Sunday, due to players being given a day off. But Amorim was keen to stress that the important thing was every member of the squad was ready for the challenge that awaits the club as a whole.

"We have here a new challenge," he began, describing the context that the club finds itself in.

"It's a tough one; for me, it's the biggest challenge in football. We are in a difficult situation and this is one of the biggest clubs in the world. It's a new challenge, the biggest one and I hope they're all ready.

"No [I have not spoken to Marcus since the weekend]. I gave a day off to the lads. But he's our player and he's ready for the next game."