Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford could decide to leave at the end of the season but has told Ralf Rangnick he is "still happy" at Old Trafford, the interim boss said.
Rangnick says he is working to get the best out of the 24-year-old England international, although reports have suggested Rashford may seek a move away from the club he has represented throughout his senior career.
He was reportedly unhappy after being left out of the starting XI for United's 4-1 defeat to Manchester City last weekend.
After hitting double figures for goals in three consecutive Premier League campaigns, Rashford has scored just four league goals in 18 appearances this campaign, and has seen just 867 minutes of game time in the English top flight.
Speaking ahead of United's Saturday clash with fellow top-four hopefuls Tottenham, Rangnick, who earlier called for the attacker to carry his training performances into games, insisted Rashford has not said anything about wanting a move.
"I spoke with him yesterday [Thursday] and the day before yesterday," the 63-year-old said, according to several UK newspapers. "I don't know anything about that.
"He didn't say anything to me, he said to me that he is still happy and that he wants to perform on a high level for the club. There was no mention of him not being happy here.
"The window is closed right now. Even suppose he and his agents or his family at one stage of the summer think about maybe going to another club, well, then he can do that, but in the summer.
"Now the window is closed. It's got nothing to do with tomorrow's game or the game on Tuesday [against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League]."
Despite leaving Rashford out of the line-up for last Sunday's defeat, even in the absence of both Edinson Cavani and Cristiano Ronaldo, Rangnick insists he rates the one-time teenage prodigy highly and wishes to help him to grow.
"I like Marcus as a player," he said. "I've had a few in the past in former clubs where they had problems at one stage, but it's our job to help him, to get the best Marcus Rashford that he can be.
"This is my job right now, and I'm putting all my energy and time into that to achieve that."
Ahead of their clash with Spurs, United are winless in their last three games in all competitions, recording two wins and a draw. They have not gone longer without a win since a run of six winless games in September and October 2019.
The Numbers Game: Can Arsenal handle Rice absence in derby clash with Tottenham?
The Premier League is back following the first international break of the season, and Sunday's headline fixture looks to be worth the wait as Tottenham host Arsenal.
The first North London Derby of the campaign comes after disappointing results for both sides on matchday three, with Arsenal losing early ground on Manchester City and Liverpool as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton.
Ange Postecoglou's Spurs, meanwhile, were beaten 2-1 at Newcastle United, leaving them three points behind their rivals in the early-season standings.
What can we expect as these North London heavyweights go head-to-head for local bragging rights at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?
By diving into the Opta data, we can bring you all the best pre-match facts, figures and storylines.
What's expected?
Arsenal have had the upper hand in the North London Derbies of late, and the Opta supercomputer makes them slight favourites despite the absence of home advantage.
They were victorious in 40% of the supercomputer's 10,000 pre-match simulations, with Tottenham triumphing in 34.1% and the remaining 26% finishing all square.
Arsenal have won their last two Premier League away games against Tottenham, as many as in their previous 17 such visits (six draws and nine defeats). They last won three consecutive away North London Derbies between January 1987 and September 1988.
Draws have been a rarity at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which has seen the lowest percentage of draws (9%, 9/101) of any ground in Premier League history, so perhaps we should not expect the spoils to be shared.
When will Tottenham stop being Spursy?
The adjective 'Spursy' is not one any team wishes to be tagged with, coming to denote a side that flatters to deceive and ultimately falls short of expectations.
Postecoglou has made no secret of his desire to cast that perception aside and make Tottenham true contenders, but their start to 2024-25 has thrown up several familiar themes.
Spurs were utterly dominant on matchday one but could not hold onto a 1-0 lead at newly promoted Leicester City, starting their second straight season under Postecoglou with an underwhelming draw.
After routing hapless Everton, they were then beaten 2-1 at Newcastle despite firing off 20 shots to the hosts' nine, also enjoying 65.7% possession and playing almost as many passes in the final third (235) as Newcastle did overall (261). 'Spursy' indeed.
The North London Derby is a fixture in which Tottenham have struggled lately, losing five of their last seven Premier League meetings with Arsenal (one win and one draw).
That is more defeats than they suffered in their previous 16 against their rivals (six wins, six draws and four defeats).
These fixtures have so often been an acid test of Spurs' resilience, and they must improve their defending for a matchup that has not featured many clean sheets lately.
Arsenal versus Tottenham has seen both teams score more often than any other fixture in Premier League history (43 times), while it is also the fixture to see the team who scored first fail to win more often than any other (29 times, 19 draws and 10 losses).
Can Gunners replace Rice?
There was much for Mikel Arteta to be frustrated about as Arsenal dropped their first points of the campaign last time out, squandering a 1-0 lead in a 1-1 draw with Brighton.
But it could be that the sending-off of Rice, who received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away early in the second half, proves more of an inconvenience than the result.
The first red card of Rice's Premier League career – coming on his 245th appearance in the competition – has handed Arteta a major selection dilemma in the engine room.
Rice started 37 of the Gunners' 38 Premier League games last season, appearing as a substitute in the other. It is often said that availability is the best ability, and Rice's 3,230 Premier League minutes in 2023-24 were only bettered by eight other outfielders – team-mate William Saliba (with a full 3,420) among them.
With Rice patrolling the midfield, Arsenal were a picture of control last season, giving up the joint-fourth fewest fast breaks in the Premier League (23) and the joint-fifth fewest shots from fast breaks (20).
Thomas Partey and Jorginho, the men likely to be tasked with holding the fort, will come up against a Spurs side with plenty of pace in transition, and the likes of Son Heung-min, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson will be desperate to exploit his absence.
Tottenham scored three goals from 25 fast breaks in Premier League action last term, finding the net every 8.3 fast breaks on average – only eight teams netted from such situations at a greater frequency.
Rice did much to help Arsenal build the Premier League's most fearsome defence last term, and they approach Sunday's game with eight shutout victories in their last 10 away league games (nine wins, one draw).
Elsewhere, captain Martin Odegaard is a doubt after sustaining an injury on international duty with Norway, with their absences potentially handing Spurs a golden opportunity.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tottenham – Son Heung-min
Tottenham skipper Son has scored eight goals against Arsenal in all competitions. In the history of the fixture, only Harry Kane (14), Emmanuel Adebayor (10) and Bobby Smith (10) have netted more North London Derby goals than the South Korean.
Seven of Son's North London Derby goals have come in the Premier League, with no other current Spurs player boasting more than two strikes against the Gunners in the competition.
Arsenal – Bukayo Saka
Saka scored home and away goals against Tottenham in the Premier League last season. The only previous Arsenal players to score in three or more consecutive North London Derby appearances in the competition are Emmanuel Adebayor (five between 2006 and 2008) and Robert Pires (four between 2002 and 2004).
Saka has also been involved in more attacking sequences than any other Arsenal player in the Premier League this term (22 – 10 shots, seven chances created and five build-up involvements), scoring once against Wolves on matchday one.
Ronaldo: 'You cannot rebuild Man United without knowledge'
Cristiano Ronaldo believes Manchester United "cannot rebuild without knowledge" as he urged Erik ten Hag to take advice from assistant coach - and former Red Devils striker - Ruud van Nistelrooy.
United opened the Premier League season with a 1-0 win over Fulham, but then suffered back-to-back defeats against Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool.
It is the second time under Ten Hag the Red Devils have lost as many as two of their first three league games in a season (also 2022-23); as many times as in their previous 29 campaigns combined.
United have also scored three goals fewer than their xG suggests they should have so far this term (two goals, 5.2 xG), the biggest such difference for any team in the Premier League.
Ten Hag was recently joined in the dugout by compatriot Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 in 219 appearances at Old Trafford between 2001 and 2006.
And Ronaldo - the scorer of 145 in 346 games across his two spells - thinks the Red Devils will benefit from the wisdom of people with prior experience and knowledge of the club.
"[As the] Man United manager; you cannot say that you're not going to fight to win the Premier League or Champions League," he told former team-mate Rio Ferdinand on FiveUK.
"You've to say: 'maybe we've not got the potential, but we're going to try'. You have to try!
"If Ten Hag listens to Ruud van Nistelrooy, maybe he can help. He knows the club and the club should listen to the guys who were there [like] Rio, Roy Keane, [Paul] Scholes, Gary Neville, Alex Ferguson. You cannot rebuild a club without knowledge."
United return to action this weekend away at pointless Southampton, against whom they are unbeaten in their last 12 Premier League visits since a 1-0 defeat in August 2003.
The Red Devils have also lost just one of their last 30 Premier League matches against promoted sides, winning 15 of their last 17 such games.
Man Utd's Mazraoui reveals mentality switch helped save his career
Noussair Mazraoui believes a shift in his mentality was crucial to him finding his way in the professional game, and ultimately ending up in the Premier League at Manchester United.
Mazraoui joined United in August after a spell with Bayern Munich following a successful stint at Ajax, where he worked under Erik ten Hag.
The full-back has turned in some bright displays in the early days of his United career, and ahead of Saturday’s clash with struggling Southampton, the 26-year-old reflected on his career path so far.
"When I became older and more mature, it was still, yeah, almost 50-50 [whether I would make it]," he said in an interview with Inside United. "I went and played professional football without a contract. And, what you said, it was do or die because, at that moment, you come to the point of no return.
"It’s either you go for it fully or that’s it. You will just make steps upwards or, from there on, it could be the end of your career, but you cannot even say your career as it was not even at the beginning.
"So that was a little bit the case when I became 18 or 19 years old and, from there on, something in my head just switched.
"I didn’t look back anymore. I just looked forward. I had a goal and that was to fight for a contract and to be a professional footballer because I was just so close, I could smell it. And, yeah, if you don’t make it, it would be that you will regret that for the rest of your life. And I wouldn’t want to live with that. "
A sorry 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool saw United head into the international break with a whimper, and on the back of two straight Premier League losses.
But a match against one of the only two winless teams in the Premier League as it stands surely presents a great opportunity for United to get back on track in Saturday's early kick-off.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Southampton – Aaron Ramsdale
New Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, signed from Arsenal on deadline day, is set to make his home debut at St Mary's.
Since keeping a clean sheet in his first Premier League game against United while at Bournemouth in November 2019, the England international has conceded in each of his last eight games against the Red Devils. His 19 goals conceded in these games is the joint-most he’s shipped against any opponent in the competition (also 19 v Liverpool).
Manchester United – Joshua Zirkzee
Zirkzee scored and assisted in the Netherlands’ 5-2 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina last week, and will now be looking to keep up the momentum on his return to club football.
The forward netted the winner when United beat Fulham 1-0 in the opening match of the season.
MATCH PREDICTION: MAN UTD WIN
United have lost as many as two of their first three league games in a season for the second time under Ten Hag (also 2022-23), as many times as they had in their previous 29 campaigns combined (2018-19 and 2020-21). They last lost three of their first four back in 1986-87.
Southampton were beaten 3-1 at Brentford last time out. They are now on 399 Premier League defeats, from 927 matches, and are on the brink of becoming the fifth team to lose as many as 400 games in the competition, and in the fewest amount of fixtures (West Ham 976, Aston Villa 1,072, Newcastle 1,090, Everton 1,128).
Southampton are looking to avoid becoming the first team to lose each of their first four in three different Premier League seasons, previously having done so in 1998-99 and 2012-13 (the last time they were a promoted side).
United, meanwhile, have scored around three goals fewer than their xG suggests they should have so far this season (two goals from 5.2 xG), the biggest such difference in the competition this term.
Errors have been a huge thorn in the side of both these teams. Southampton (four) and United (three) have made the most errors leading to a goal in the Premier League so far this season. Indeed, all three of the goals the Red Devils conceded in their loss at Liverpool last time out came via errors, the first time on record they have ever committed as many in a single Premier League match (since 2007-08).
United are unbeaten in their last 12 Premier League away games against Southampton (W7 D5) since a 1-0 loss in August 2003, so while they may be out of form, there is reason for Ten Hag to be confident.
In fact, Southampton are winless in their last 14 Premier League meetings with United (D8 L6) since a 1-0 away win in January 2016.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Southampton – 23.6%
Man Utd – 52.25%
Draw – 24.2%
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