Marcus Rashford scored twice on Sunday as Villa reached FA Cup semi-finals
Ruben Amorim sent Rashford out on loan despite striker shortage at Man United
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By CHRIS WHEELER
Published: 11:41 EDT, 31 March 2025 | Updated: 11:41 EDT, 31 March 2025
Ruben Amorim has welcomed Marcus Rashford’s revival, saying the player’s return to form on loan at Aston Villa and England recall is good news for Manchester United.
Rashford left United in January after being frozen out by Amorim over his attitude in training. Under the terms of the deal, Villa are covering at least 75 per cent of his £315,000-a-week salary and have an option to make the move permanent in the summer for £40million.
The 27-year-old played against Albania and Latvia during the international break after being called up for new England manager Thomas Tuchel’s first two games in charge, and then scored his first goals for Villa in the FA Cup win at Preston on Sunday.
Although Rashford faces an uncertain future, Amorim responded positively to his recent resurgence. ‘Rashford is not my player at the moment but every player that performs on loan is good news for our club,’ said United’s head coach. ‘Like you said, we have a lot of games to play and I’m focused on my team and my players.’
Meanwhile, Amorim says United go to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Tuesday night in more positive mood after an unbeaten seven-game run in which they went out of the FA Cup to Fulham on penalties.
‘Yes, you can say that I’m really confident,’ he added at his pre-match press conference at Carrington. ‘I feel the players are more confident and the energy is different, but this could change with results. We are focused on maintaining the energy. We have worked on things to improve, we are in a different moment, more confident for these final two months of the season.
Marcus Rashford (second left) is Aston Villa's Cup hero in Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final
Man United boss Ruben Amorim insists he is happy to see the man he outcast doing so well
The England star looked back to full confidence as he converted a penalty for his second goal
‘I don’t know which place we are going to finish in, but we are looking up. We want to win games, we still have matches to finish in a different position, we are more confident, so we are looking up.’
While United head back to the East Midlands after a 16-day break since their last game at Leicester, Forest were involved in extra-time and penalties before overcoming Brighton on Saturday to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
Asked if it gives his players an advantage, Amorim replied: ‘I don’t know. Nuno (Espirito Santo) will say it was better to have more time to prepare for the game, and it’s a long time in a good moment without games. But they played that cup stage, they won and that is really important to recover players.’