Unai Emery breaks silence on “excellent” Marcus Rashford and sends Ruben Amorim message

Unai Emery has broken his silence on Aston Villa securing the services of Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford on loan for the remainder of the season.

Marcus Rashford had been sidelined at Manchester United since early December after expressing an interest in pursuing a new challenge during an interview.

The club’s No.10 was made available in the January transfer window and has since joined Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the season.

Unai Emery was eager to bring the United forward in and the Midlands outfit also have an option to buy the 27-year-old for £40 million.

After completing the move, Rashford shared his determination to support Villa in their Champions League campaign following the club’s qualification for the knockout stages.

He is expected to make his debut in the FA Cup on the weekend as Villa face Tottenham Hotspur in their fourth-round clash.

Emery breaks silence on Rashford loan

Villa boss Emery spoke to the media on Friday afternoon and spoke about the addition of Rashford for the first time.

The Spanish coach is looking forward to the challenge of helping the United loanee rediscover his best form at Villa Park.

There has also been a lot of talk around the reason Rashford departed United and a potentially fractured relationship with Ruben Amorim, but Emery is not interested in speaking about that.

“He has huge potential to exploit,” Emery explained. “Today he trained fantastic, tomorrow again, Sunday match.

“I don’t want to know the reason he’s leaving Manchester [but] I’m very happy to try to exploit and help him recover his performances, individually and collectively.

“My challenge with him is a huge challenge.”

The Villa boss also confirmed that Rashford has been added to the club’s Champions League squad for the knock-out rounds.

Amorim explains Rashford exit decision

Meanwhile, Amorim was asked to explain why he decided to let Rashford leave the club in his latest press conference.

“What I say is I couldn’t get Marcus to see the way you’re supposed to play football and to train the way I see it,” the United boss explained. “Sometimes you have one player who is really good with one coach and the same player with another coach is different.

“I just wish the best to Rashford and Unai Emery and hope they can connect, because he’s a very good player. Thankfully, Marcus is in Birmingham now with Unai, so you can take these questions to another coach. We’re just focused on our players.

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“Some of the guys don’t adapt to the way I see football, the other guys adapt, and we’re trying to build the team. It’s something you feel, as a coach and a player.

“It’s quite normal, it happened with a lot of coaches. The important thing is that I’m here, saying it was my decision.”

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