Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim has for the first time responded to Marcus Rashford’s comments suggesting that he is no longer feeling wanted at the club and wants to leave.

Rashford was left out of the United squad for Sunday’s Manchester derby victory over Man City, with manager Amorim confirming at the time that the decision was not down to injury or discipline.

In an interview with the journalist Henry Winter on Tuesday, the striker indicated that he is “ready for a new challenge and the next steps”.

Addressing Rashford’s remarks on Wednesday, ahead of Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final with Tottenham, Amorim feels his striker can get the challenge he needs by sticking with United.

“I think it’s right,” the gaffer said when asked about Rashford’s reference to a new challenge. “We have here a new challenge. It’s a tough one, for me it’s the biggest challenge in football because we are in a difficult situation and I already said this is one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“This is a really new challenge and the biggest one. I really hope all my players are ready for this new challenge.

“No, [I haven’t spoken to Rashford] yet. It was yesterday, I gave the day off to the lads, so he’s our player and he’s ready for the next game.

“I spoke with a lot of players individually and during training. What I want is to take the best stuff of Marcus Rashford as the player so I don’t talk about the future, I just talk about the present.

“I want the best of each one of them and that is the key point for me. I just want to win and to help the team be better. We are better with Marcus Rashford, that is simple and we will try different things to push Marcus to the best levels he showed in the past. And that’s all.”