RIO FERDINAND HAS said he would be embarrassed if he was in Marcus Rashford’s position after Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim indicated he would rather have his goalkeeping coach in his matchday squad than the forward.

Rashford has not played for United since 12 December, with Amorim leaving him out of the squad for every game since apart from one, in which he was an unused substitute.

Having omitted the England international again on Sunday when United won 1-0 at Fulham, Amorim made reference to his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital as he said: “The reason (why Rashford is not playing) is the training, what I think a footballer should do in training, in life and every day… I will put (in) Vital before I put (in) a player who doesn’t give the maximum every day.”

Ferdinand believes there is “no way back” for Rashford after that comment.

Speaking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, the former United defender said: “If I was that player that the manager said that about, my heart, my pride, my ego – embarrassment.

“For someone to question your application, to question (whether) you’re going out there and giving 100 per cent for your team, (suggesting) that you’re going to slack off and you’re taking shortcuts…

“We all have days off or moments when we’re not performing well, lacking confidence, but effort isn’t really one of the things I would want to be hearing a manager say is lacking in my makeup.

“That’s a damning comment, because I think he knows what the reaction is after that comment. He’s not saying that without thinking, ‘Where does this go after?’ There’s really no way back for Marcus after that, I don’t think, with that type of comment.

“You’re looking at it and going, ‘He (Amorim, who took charge in November) has only been there a short bit of time and he’s actually straight away gone, he’s pulled out the nine-millimetre revolver and just gone bang’. There’s no way back from that.

“If he comes back, that means other players can now take their foot off the gas and still have a way back into the team.”

Rashford, who on 17 December said in an interview with journalist Henry Winter that he was “ready for a new challenge”, on Sunday evening posted a message on his Instagram stories that simply read: “Congratulations on the win lads.”

Ferdinand added: “If it isn’t true and it was me he said that about, I am coming out all guns blazing. I’m holding a press conference, I’m coming out and saying, ‘I’m having no-one chat about me like that in the media’. But you only come out if you’re 100 per cent sure that nobody can say you take the shortcuts.

“Sometimes I think in these situations, if you’re doing things right, communicate it. Because the manager can question how well or bad I’m playing, or my form, but if he’s questioning my effort, I’m sorry, I’m coming back out, next time I’m around any press people – ‘the effort, he needs to take that back or I’m suing him’.

“I would love to sit across the table from Marcus, look in his eyes and go, ‘Can you say that? Could you be confident enough to go out and do that? Because if you can’t, look at yourself’.”