Marcus Rashford's clash with Ruben Amorim has painted a controversial claim by Jose Mourinho about the star striker in an interesting light.
Mourinho, now at Fenerbahce, spent two and a half seasons at the helm of the team. manchester united from 2016 to 2018 and led the Red Devils to win the League Cup and Europa League.
Rashford, who was just 19 when Mourinho first arrived, featured 105 times in all competitions in the Portuguese manager's first two seasons at Old Trafford.
Although Rashford established himself as a key member of the team under Mourinho, the two-time Champions League winner felt the striker did not try hard enough.
It wasn't just Rashford who Mourinho criticized, as the former Real Madrid and Chelsea boss grouped together Jesse Lingard, antonio martial and Luke Shaw in the same group.
Talking to Hristo Stoichkov in 2018Mourinho considered that the quartet lacked “maturity.”
“When I say that, I mean maturity on a personal level,” Mourinho said.
“We are more men, we are more mature, we were more prepared to face life. We were less protected. In England they call it 'spoiled'.”
Mourinho added: “Today we are talking about 'spoiled children'. Our children are more 'spoiled' than us.
“I think that children today have a different social life than ours, and the players have an entourage around them, and I mean a personal entourage, the people who surround them, who protect them more, give them more Honey, more excuses. They come to maturity more slowly.
“When we talk about Luke Shaw, (Anthony) Martial, (Jesse) Lingard, (Marcus) Rashford, we are talking about kids with great potential but there is still one word missing that I can't say but that they really like… they are missing a little bit of that.
“Character, personality, as they also say in Spain, bad blood, that natural aggressiveness that you had.”
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Of those four, only Shaw and Rashford remain, with Lingard and Martial now at FC Seoul and AEK Athens respectively.
However, it appears increasingly likely that Rashford will leave Old Trafford after admitting in a recent interview that he was ready for a 'new challenge' away from the club.
Rashford made this shocking admission just days later. he was dropped by Amorim in United's 2-1 victory over Manchester City on 15 December.
Since the explosive claim, Rashford has been left out of United's next three matchday squads, the last being a 2-0 defeat to Wolves on Boxing Day.
Rashford's absences are in complete contrast to how he started under Amorim, with the 60-cap England international scoring three goals in the new Red Devils boss's first two league games.
The striker's last starting game was in the Europa League against Viktoria Plzen, although he was substituted in the 56th minute.
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Amorim has remained largely coy about the explanations behind Rashford's absences.
Speaking to Match of the Day about whether Rashford would play against Wolves, Amorim replied: “It depends, we'll see.”
Amorim was also asked if Rashford was out of the squad ahead of United's game against Bournemouth on December 22.
“It's my decision and it always will be,” Amorim told Sky.
“It's the national team. I want to see the best in my players and I try different things with different players, so that's my focus.”
Amorim can extend Rashford's matchday exile to a fifth successive match when United face an in-form Newcastle side on Monday.
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The Magpies arrive at Old Trafford having won their last four games in all competitions.
In that run, Eddie Howe's side have scored 14 goals and conceded just once and now sit seventh in the Premier League standings.
As for United, they are winless since their dramatic victory over City.
The worrying state of form places Amorim's team in 14th place in the league with only 22 points.
