RUBEN AMORIM will not offer a return date for Marcus Rashford, as United legend Gary Neville insists the England star may have played his last game for the club.
For a third time in eight days, Rashford was left out of Amorim’s match day squad for the catastrophic 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth.
He was in attendance at Old Trafford on Sunday, in a club tracksuit, but has yet to be re-integrated into the squad – unlike Alejandro Garnacho who was, like Rashford was axed for last weekend’s Manchester derby win but has come on as a sub in the last two games.
And former United skipper Neville believes the Rashford situation is in danger of becoming a distraction for Amorim and the club.
He said: “It is not really big team news any more.
“It is something of a norm, a pattern has developed over the last week. It was a surprise last weekend.
“It is getting to the point where you leave him out three games on the bounce something really is obviously going wrong or has gone wrong.
“And it is not looking great for both Marcus’ future at the club or Manchester United keeping him either.
“I suspect it is getting to that point in the journey where it has got an inevitable ending.
“It is a distraction for the manager. It does become obvious that he probably has to leave and that the club want him to leave – it will probably work for both parties.”
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With the January window barely a week away, that prospect may come into focus in the coming days, with Neville citing recent examples of players who have benefitted from a move away.
He said: “There are good examples as well of players who have struggled at United.
“Jadon Sancho has gone to Chelsea and is doing better, Scott McTominay wasn’t struggling but he left to go to Napoli and he is doing well, so Marcus might think it is the right thing for him as well.”
Amorim, meanwhile, still insists there is no disciplinary aspect to the decision to again leave him out – and simply cites the reason as a “selection” matter.
Amorim said: “It’s my decision and it always will be.
“It is selection. I want to see the best of my players and I try different things with different players. That’s my focus.”
Amorim insists he has not ruled Rashford out of the Boxing Day visit to Wolves but did not offer any clarity.
He said: “It depends. We will see.”
THE Chase welcomed back one of its fan favourite chasers for its festive special, and they’ve had a glamorous makeover.
Chaser Anne Hegerty embraced the Christmas spirit with some festive sparkle as she joined the ITV show for a Christmas celebrity special.
The 66-year-old TV star wore sequins and sparkle as she was introduced by host Bradley Walsh and took her seat to face McFly drummer Harry Judd.
Viewers were quick to praise Anne’s new look as one wrote on X: “Anne looking gorgeous.”
Another shared: “Finally, they get @anne_hegerty out of that horrid grey garb and into her sparkly party dress. Doesn’t she look amazing?”
“Anne looks amazing! Go girl!” said a third.
Another shared: “Anne scrubs up well”.
Anne faced off against a panel of celebrities aiming to raise money for charity in this year’s festive special on ITV.
Waterloo Road actress Angela Griffin was joined by Strictly Come Dancing professional Kai Widdrington alongside EastEnders actor Shane Richie and McFly’s Harry Judd.
The appearance comes as many fans had feared Anne may have called it quits from The Chase, particularly after she was was missing from Beat The Chasers last month.
The TV quizzer, known as The Governess, had not been seen on-screen during last month’s re-run of the primetime edition of the popular ITV quizzing format.
Instead, she has been replaced by a Chaser from the Australian version of the show – Issa Schultz.
Whilst fans feared the swap could be permanent, Issa was only a temporary replacement for Anne for three episodes.
Issa had stepped in to cover Anne for the episodes as she took time out as a result of a health issue, which happened three years ago when the episodes were filmed.
Outside of her role as a reigning quiz champion on ITV, Anne has also teased the possibility of branching out into sitcom territory and exploring her acting career.
The star revealed on the ‘A Very Tall Man’ podcast that a colleague on The Chase has penned a sitcom, with Anne earmarked for a role.
She told the podcast: “I’d love to be on a TV show or a film. I know various people who are trying to get things off the ground.
“One of them is the guy on The Chase, he’s written a sitcom with a part for me. It would be brilliant to get that made.”
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AN URGENT search has been launched to find a missing man after a car was found abandoned on a popular beach.
Emergency services were called to East Preston beach, in West Sussex, at just after 2.10pm today.
Sussex Police are urgently searching with the HM Coastguard for 50-year-old Alexander.
He stands at 5’10” tall and is known to wear baggy clothing and a hat.
A Coastguard helicopter has been searching the area, as well as police officers, dog units, drones and the RNLI.
The Shoreham lifeboat was sent out at 2.35pm today, a spokesperson for the RNLI said.
A Sussex Police spokesperson said: “We are concerned for the welfare of Alexander who is missing from Sheffield.
“The 50-year-old was last seen near East Preston beach today.
“Alexander is 5’10” tall and wears baggy clothing and a hat.
“If you see Alexander, please call 999 immediately quoting serial 0508 of 22/12.”
A spokesperson said: “HM Coastguard received a request for assistance from Sussex Police with an incident at East Preston beach just after 14:10 today (22 Dec)
“A coastguard helicopter, Littlehampton Coastguard Rescue Team and Shoreham RNLI lifeboats have been sent.”
GAVIN and Stacey’s Larry Lamb has revealed the cast filmed scenes ’70-80 times’ to ensure the final episode was perfect.
Viewers are eagerly awaiting the Christmas Day finale of Gavin and Stacey, written by James Corden and Ruth Jones.
Larry, 77, who plays Gavin’s father, Mick Shipman, shared that he will also be settling down on Christmas Day to watch the show like the rest of the nation.
In an interview with Love Sunday magazine, Larry shared: “Having spent a year keeping it all a secret, my big buzz will be watching my family watch it and seeing their reactions.”
He revealed that the cast spent hours perfecting the scenes: “It’s hard work and sometimes we film scenes 70 or 80 time to get them right, so seeing it all pay off is what it’s all about.
“And none of us are in every scene, so I’m excited to see it all come together.”
Filming the last scenes and getting back together with Ruth Jones as Nessa, James Corden as Smithy, Joanna Page as Stacey, Mathew Horne, as Gavin, Alison Steadman, as Pam, Rob Brydon as Bryn, and Melanie Walters, as Gwyn was an “extraordinary experience” according to Larry.
He said: “For all the people who have been watching religiously since the show started, you’ve got a trip coming up, I’ll tell you that!
“Everybody is going to get flipped and flipped again because it’s so, so clever, what Ruth and James have done.
“The way they’ve tied all the loose ends of the story together – it’s like a piece of a fabric that’s been knitted and interwoven. It’s an incredible episode.”
Gavin & Stacey first hit our screens in 2007 and ran for three years, before returning in 2019 for a Christmas special in which Nessa got down on one knee to pop the question to Smithy, played by James.
Finally, after a five-year wait, on Christmas Day, we will find out if they lived happily ever after.
As the characters reunited, there was a lot of emotion, as Larry said: . “There were a lot of tears at the end.
“Unusually, we were filming the last section of the episode on the last day of filming, which rarely happens as you don’t usually film in chronological order.
“So it felt like it really was the end. Everybody looked at each other and was like, ‘This is it, now.’
“It was emotional, and not just for us, but for the crew, too.”
Gavin and Stacey: The Finale airs at 9pm on Christmas Day on BBC One.
