Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has refused to entertain transfer rumours linking the club with a move for Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford ahead of the two clubs' meeting in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.
Spurs are set to welcome United to north London as they battle for a place in the semi-final of the competition, with plenty of intrigue surrounding the visitors. Rashford and teammate Alejandro Garnacho were left out of the squad for their all-important Manchester derby against rivals Man City.
And following the decision, Rashford took to the press to address his future following Ruben Amorim's arrival as manager of the club last month. The 27-year-old admitted it was probably time for him to leave, stating that he was hoping for a new challenge.
"For me, personally, I think I'm ready for a new challenge and the next steps," Rashford said. "When I leave it's going to be no hard feelings. You’re not going to have any negative comments from me about Manchester United. That’s me. I will always be a Red."
Asked about the 'noise' surrounding the club and player ahead of their meeting, Postecoglou stated: "There’s always noise about Manchester United, come on mate. Where have you been?"
And when asked about Rashford's comments in particular, and whether Spurs would be interested in a move, Postecoglou was clear on both Rashford and links to other players: "No interest. Don’t care. Not interested, he is a Manchester United player. A very good player, they have plenty of good players. But I manage my players and other managers will manage their own players. In terms of Marcus’ situation I have no real desire to examine it any further.
"Ah, mate if I looked at everyone we were linked to, I would have no time to do anything else to be honest. I have got other people to do that part of the process. For us, we’ve been pretty disciplined in what we’re trying to build here and we’ll continue to be so.
"[Is that a no?] That’s a not on my radar. You can ask me about Marcus but you can ask me about every single Premier League footballer and I’ll say the same thing."
Postecoglou then gave his view on Amorim since the Portuguese coach's arrival at Old Trafford, and says he is looking forward to the challenge of facing United in the cup.
"Yeah look he seems to have come in and made an impact straight away," Postecoglou added. "As I mentioned earlier, it is a club that’s always going to have noise. It’s just that kind of football club and I guess that’s as big a challenge as the actual challenge for anyone that takes over.
"He has obviously tweaked the formation a little bit, given different players an opportunity because he wants to have a look at everyone but as they showed at the weekend, they are pretty tough competitors still. Yeah, looking forward to meeting him and taking on the challenge tomorrow."
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