Rashford's uncertain Old Trafford future | Will Arsenal sign a striker? | Pep: No one fears us!
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Teddy Draper and joining me are Mark Ogden, senior football writer at ESPN, and Karl Anker, who covers Manchester United for The Athletic. Welcome to you both.

Hey, Carl, I know you both cover Manchester United, but let's come to you first with the Marcus Rashford story. Striker faces uncertain time in the mirror. Marcus not given hope of return if he fails to move. Rash dashed, reports Andy Dunne. How precarious, Carl, do you feel Marcus Rashford's future is at the moment?

The honest answer is I don't know. Ruben Amarin's been playing his cards very close to his chest in press conferences when he's been asked about Marcus Rashford. He says that he's the person in charge of deciding upon the team. And he says after the victory over Arsenal that he knows that Marcus loves Manchester United, but he has to represent the team, which if you try and put one and two and three together...

get yourself five rather than 123 leads me to believe perhaps there's something that Marcus Rashford has done in the past that Ruben Amerin did not like or perhaps Marcus Rashford is not doing something that Ruben Amerin very much wants in the starting lineup so that's his situation regarding a Manchester United shirt in regards to

Going elsewhere, I think this will mostly come down to financials. Marcus Rashford is a highly regarded football player across Europe. However, when you're one of the highest paid players at Manchester United, that means you're one of the highest paid players in the Premier League, which means you're one of the highest paid players in the world. So the clubs that perhaps need you most or need your playing style the most might not necessarily be able to afford you.

So it's a difficult situation for the player and one that will most likely resolve itself by him featuring for a football team in the future and putting together a series of performances to remind everyone how good he is. Absolutely, Mark. Where do you see his immediate future next month? And if he doesn't get that move away from Manchester United, surely it's not a happy solution for anyone for such a highly paid, highly talented player to sit in the wilderness watching on as he did against Rangers.

I mean, that is the worst case scenario, isn't it, for everybody? Because I know it's been projected this week that Marcus Rashford would be happy to stay. He's training really hard. He wants to stay at United. But a month ago, he was given an interview where he said that he wants a new challenge. So he clearly has his mind elsewhere. Ruben Amorim clearly has no...

immediate desire to put him back in the team because he's not picking him he hasn't picked him for over a month and you know there was one brief spell on the bench against Newcastle when United were desperate for a goal and they left him on the bench so I think it's pretty clear by his actions that Ruben Amrim has no plans for Marcus Rashford so the best solution is that Rashford leaves but he's overpaid for what he delivers or has delivered for the last 18 months so

No club in Europe is prepared to pay what it takes for Marcus Rashford because why pay the money for him, for his wages or even a loan fee if you're not sure that he's going to deliver? He hasn't delivered for Man United for 18 months, maybe two years. So that's the problem that Marcus Rashford has got. It's been a reality check this window for Marcus Rashford because I think he went into it thinking he'd get a move.

He didn't fancy AC Milan. He's waiting for Barcelona. Now, Barcelona would be a great move for Marcus Rashford, but for the fact they've got Rafinha, Roberto Lewandowski and Lamine Jamal playing up front. So where does he fit in? There's no ideal solution for Marcus Rashford. The best one probably is to get his head down and try and stay at Man United, but the coach clearly doesn't want him. Karl, what about Manchester United's financial situation? Is there any value in them getting him out on loan and subsidising wages? Or do you think that's something that they can't really afford to do at the moment?

Manchester United's financial situation is a precarious thing. As reported by Mark Critchley at The Athletic this week, they currently owe £319 million in outstanding transfer fees. In the past decade, they've spent north of £1 billion on transfers that

quite frankly, have created a squad that is unsuited to dominating top end of the Premier League and unsuited to perhaps even getting back into the Champions League spaces. So they don't have a lot of wiggle room this January. I'm not going to say it's one in and one out, but it doesn't seem like they can go out and splash the cash on some of the more essential parts of the squad that need filling in. So that's difficult. The Marcus Ratchett situation is one of particular interest because if

A suitor can be found to take him because of his status as an academy player that can be useful for PS Tark as he can be put down as pure profit and also because again, he's one of the highest paid players at Manchester United. Getting that wage off your wage structure could also be used to save or reinvest in other parts of the squad.

However, if you're in a situation where there are a lack of suits that can bring him in or those suits that can come in are asking for a huge amount of financial assistance to cover those wages, might it be more useful just to have that football player playing for Manchester United, getting him back to his best and then seeing what you can get from him for the foreseeable future. This is a Manchester United team that doesn't score too many goals. And while Marcus Rashford's form in the last 18 months has not been his best, it's

He is the most recent United football player to score 30 goals in a season in all competitions. So is there a way Amaran can find the best out of Marcus Rashford? That might be more hopeful than probable at this point in time. But it's one where the coaching staff and the accountancy staff might have two different opinions, shall we say.

Yeah, complicated picture, isn't it, as well? But I think it's a good point. We do hope that Marcus Rashford flourishes wherever he comes, stays, goes at Manchester United. He was watching on, as mentioned, the Rangers game on Thursday in the Europa League, Mark, and come to this story in the Times Sports Supplement here from Paul Hurst. United investigate Rangers fans. Manchester United have launched an investigation after Rangers fans managed to buy tickets in the home end for Thursday night's Europa League match at Old Trafford. Mark, how complicated is it going to be to unravel...

how that happened. Yeah, there's a little bit of a blame game going on. Without the club or the fans directly blaming each other, that seems to be the way it's going. But, you know, Rangers was always going to be a high-risk fixture. There's a history of Rangers in Manchester, as we know, 2008, UEFA Cup final, when over 100,000 Rangers fans came down. A lot of disorder in Manchester that night.

and they travel in numbers and they will travel and try to get in different parts of the ground. It happened in Scotland and that happened at United and it's happened before in the Europa League Champions League. I think last season they played Galatasaray. A lot of Galatasaray fans found their way into the home end. So United have got to ask themselves why that's happened. Is it because the ticket price is too high and fans are selling them on? Fans aren't going to games and selling them on? Or is it to house outside the ground or is it something else? But obviously there was situations like that. I think there were over 30 arrests, which is kind of unusual sometimes

at a game in England these days. You don't get as many arrests as that. So something went wrong and the United fans weren't happy that Rangers fans were in their kind of section. So United need to look at it because there's no point having to blame game. You have to find out why it happened and making sure it doesn't happen again because things could have happened. There could have been fights, punch-ups, anything could have happened. People could have got hurt. So United need to nip it in the bud.

Yeah, let's hope they do. Let's hope there's not similar scenes in the future. Let's talk Arsenal back page of the mail. A simple headline, maybe a bit dramatic. We need help. Desperate Arteta demands Arsenal sign a striker this week. It's on Khan there for the mail. Arsenal boss Khan reports Mikel Arteta aimed a thinly veiled dig at the club's board yesterday after reiterating the need to add more firepower in the transfer market this month. Karl, that was the key point, wasn't it? He was riling at the assumption that he didn't want

a forward player. Do you think there is an implicit criticism of the executives? I think Mika Teta has...

There's been a picture painted of Mikel Arteta that when he talks about improving the squad, he's more discussing buying more defenders and central midfielders rather than necessarily buying the number nine that many fans, both of Arsenal Football Club and fans who just watch the Premier League, believe the quickest way to improve Arsenal is just to sign a striker. Now, the immediate problem there is that strikers aren't cheap.

and Arsenal have spent money and to buy the sort of striker that would take Arsenal from being the second or third best team in the country to being the number one, you're probably going to have to spend north of 120 million. I know there's been a lot of talk about Alexander Izak and how he fits the profile of this Arsenal squad and how he's a Mikel Arteta-like striker. But I mean, you talk to Newcastle fans about that and they're saying you're absolutely not getting him for less than 120. Pony up and look at that contract. So,

So I think that's the difficulty there in that Arteta is trying to thread the needle of saying that he believes his squad is very good and perhaps good enough to win silverware without necessarily criticizing Cahavis' form up front or necessarily criticizing Gabriel Jesus'.

without also saying without also coming across to his own fan base that he's not the most ambitious Arteta absolutely wants to improve Arsenal he always wants to improve Arsenal in every single window however the ways they do that requires someone somewhere to spend a triple figure million fee on a football player and those players aren't they're

Most of them aren't necessarily running away wanting to go play for Arsenal because they're all in big contracts at other football clubs. Goals don't come cheap, do they, Mark? Similar story in the back page of The Express. The headline, we need some help. Darren Wickcoop reporting. Arteta's SOS call to Arsenal over deal for emergency striker. He seemed pretty fired up.

Mark, he wants a striker, wants a forward at least. But yet we looked at the statistics on Sky Sports News. 32 players signed in his reign. The only quote-unquote strikers, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus. And some would argue they're not strikers. So is there something in perhaps Arteta not moving heaven and earth to demand a striker?

You know, they could have pushed hard last summer. They were keen on Benjamin Siesko at Leipzig and they decided not to push through on that. Victor Jokres was mentioned as well. So they have been looking, but ultimately it will come down to Mikel Arteta's judgment if he thinks they need that centre forward in. And so far he hasn't pushed hard enough to bring one in. So you do wonder whether Arteta's, you know,

so-called football philosophy doesn't involve a centre forward. We know that a lot of Spanish teams certainly from 2008 onwards played with a false nine and that was the ethos that went through the Spanish game and now Tata is from that generation so maybe he thinks that you can get by without having a big lad up front as they say but that is what Arsenal need right now. They need a presence, they need somebody who can score a goal and just deliver where they haven't really had that so

put a bit of blame on Arteta as well as the board because I think Arteta could have pushed harder and could have identified a centre forward rather than you know putting all the eggs in the Kai Havertz basket as he did maybe two years ago so if Arteta's

worried about not scoring enough goals, it's partly down to him really because he didn't push hard enough to get the striker in last summer. Indeed, last trophy they won, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the star man of course, no longer at Arsenal, long since gone. Let's talk Liverpool. You may have seen on the back page of the Express, yeah, the I'm not tops with pops and it's continued in the star. It's front and centre, Arnaz Slot here, running away with Prem, dominating in Europe, quad dream alive, but Arnaz's father still thinks Sunside stinks.

Daddy cruel. Slot, old man says my Reds are boring. It's a bit of an extreme headline, Carl. I think he just admitted that his dad wasn't overly enamoured with the Champions League game midweek. Yes. Arne Slot's not the first Premier League manager to use a press conference to say they talk football tactics with their father. I believe Ole Gunnar Solskjaer mentioned his discussions with his dad when he was at Manchester United as well. And how do I put this politely? Arne Slot and senior Slot are

very Dutch in how they come across with their descriptions of football. So it doesn't surprise me that his dad would be very straightforward if he thought that game was quite boring. This is slot. He's a very engaging figure in press conferences. He tells jokes. And every now and again, he has to say, but that was a joke by the way. This Liverpool team at the moment is the best team in England and is one of the few teams in Europe that has the most

argument to say they're not just good, but they're possibly pushing towards great. And that's why they are where they are in both tables. I think the more controlled manner in which they play, particularly in midfield compared to Jurgen Klopp, it is, yeah, it's a point of preference rather than necessarily a point of better or worse. As Karl says, Mark, he's a very skilled communicator. Do you think there's something in it as well? Just a message there to anyone who may be missing the Gaghan press and the heavy metal football?

I think Liverpool have been great this season. I think they've been the best team by far. They score a lot of goals, they are exciting to watch. So it's easy to say that Jurgen Klopp's team were full of power and emotion, but I think Slot has made his tweaks, but they are still an exciting team to watch. They can't not be excited at the top of the Premier League by such a distance. They've won every single game of the Champions League, so he's doing something right. So I

I think if you had to ask most people who they would pay to watch in the Premier League right now, it'd be Liverpool. So they can't be that boring. So I think Mr. Slot Senior's probably got it wrong. Let's talk Manchester City, back page of the Sun. I'll come to you, Mark. I know you've followed them to Paris midweek. Off the back of that, Pep Guardiola in his press conference pre-Chelsea. No one fears us. Martin Blackburn there for the Sun. Pep Guardiola has admitted his Manchester City team have lost their fear factor. Yeah, he goes into some tactics, didn't he, Mark, as well, that

basically teams are having a right go at them like PSG. Yeah, well he mentioned in Paris that he felt that City lost the game in midfield because they just couldn't handle the intensity and the desire of the PSG players and I think

I'm not sure that teams have lost the fear for City. I think there's definitely respect there. I think that teams know that if you give City the ability to play, they will really hurt you. But what teams are doing now is they're not giving them that ability to play. And they've realised that if you get out of the midfield without Rodri, with the lack of young legs, because obviously De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva, they're all in their 30s,

they can get after City and then that causes them problems and they get a bit of joy and obviously City have taken the lead I think in nine games this season and not won any of those so teams know they can still hurt City but I think

they're also aware that if you give them enough opportunities they will hurt you. They've got Erling Haaland to score the goals after all. But it's a different city and the fact that teams are now going there with the confidence that they can get a result has changed everything. And I think Pep admitted on Wednesday that they haven't got an answer in midfield, which is kind of why it's a bit of a surprise they haven't done more this window to sign a midfielder. They've signed two young defenders and a forward from Antwerp Frankfurt but nothing in midfield. And that is where the actual issues are right now. So it'd be interesting to see if they...

close the window without adding to it again. Karl, I know you like writing a tactical piece. What's your assessment of it? Is there nuance to why City are finding it more difficult or is it as simple as the legs have gone? There is definitely more nuance and perhaps teams no longer fear us

is another simplification. I think there are many teams, both in the Premier League and the Champions League, that are aware that now is the time to get your victories over Manchester City. This will be the weakest they will be in quite a while. Rodri will eventually come back and he might not be the same player he used to, but even Rodri at 85% is still one of the best football players in the world.

So now is the time to exploit a front press that is not what it used to be due to all the players, to take advantage of that soft underbelly and also to take advantage of the defensive scheme that is missing, that has missed Ruben Diaz, that has missed Akanji three times, that has missed Nathan Ake three times. So yeah, this is not we don't fear them, but more get your licks in before they...

heal up again, rather, shall we say. Yeah, Jamie Carrick is strictly neutral on this topic, of course, despite those strong allegiances with Liverpool. Mark, in the Telegraph Sport, pictured there front and centre, Pep Guardiola, Jamie's opinion piece, panic station, City are in a state of emergency. Just look at their transfer spree. Do you think those transfers are reactive like Jamie's suggesting or perhaps given the youth that maybe there's more reason behind them?

I think they are reactive to the way it's gone this season, but I think there's also an acknowledgement at City that they've had a couple of summer windows where they haven't done enough. Certainly last summer they didn't do enough, which is why they brought in Gundogan last minute at 34. So it's playing catch-up and City have been able to do it because they've had such a profit on transfers in the last couple of windows that they had, I think £140 million spent. So they've had to do it, but they should have done it earlier. And I think, unlike in the past where City have signed players basically not at the peak of their game, but absolute A-plus signings,

the ones they've brought in so far certainly the defenders are young players with a lot of kind of growing up to do in the game so it's going to be interesting to see if they're ready yet or if they actually have anything this season because they're not signing from the top shelf at the minute they're signing from you know gambles from halfway down and that that's when the big teams that the dominant teams in the past have struggled they've they've replaced great players with players who aren't so great so the jury's out of city right now because of the last two or three windows they've had a couple of

if he buys that haven't actually quite come off. So if that continues, then that decline will continue. So it's a big time for City. They have to get it right in the transfer market and it's not been as good as it should have been recently. Big game at Saturday tea time on Sky Sports against Chelsea for City. See how they get on. See if Omar Mahmoud features in that one. Let's talk Manchester United. Check back quickly to you, Carl, with the back page of the mail. Amarim, I'll make Bruno cut out antics, right? Chris Wheeler. He says that...

Bruno's frustrations sometimes make him wince a little bit, Carl, but also points out that he's a very important player. Was this, I guess, hedging his bets here, Amarim, with these quotes?

This is a long-standing conversation from Stretford Enders in that Bruno Fernandes is one of a handful of players, a very few selection of players that have arrived at Manchester United in the post-ferguson years that haven't declined and have maintained very high levels of playing football. But also there are times where Bruno Fernandes behaves in, shall we say, a less mature manner. And this often comes down to, is Bruno Fernandes captain material in

in that he's absolutely one of the best players and he's absolutely very, very important to the team. But there are things that he does on the field that sometimes you can feel referees and match officials going, could you behave just a little bit? Sometimes it works. Sometimes it works out very well. If you go back to Manchester United's victory over Man City in January 2023, it's Fernandes' protestations over the winning goal

to the match officials saying Marcus Rashid didn't touch the ball that eventually made that goal count. Sometimes it doesn't. You can definitely see when he gets fouled and he believes he should be a yellow card and he doesn't get yellow card, you can quite literally throw his football boot on the ground as you saw at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal. So finding the balance of getting the best out of Bruno Fernandes while also curbing some of these...

more teenager-like traits is going to be a challenge for Amun like it has been a challenge for his predecessors. Yeah, regardless of the behaviour, I think it'll be key for Manchester United. Tricky game at Fulham Sunday night, Sir Mark. Ruben Amarim against a fellow sporting Lisbon ex-boss in Marco Silva. Rob Draper's been on the trail of his early career, though, in the Guardian. Man for a crisis, losing games, tactics questioned. Ruben Amarim has been here before at Casa Pia in Portugal. What were the key takeaways here, Mark?

Obviously it's a different level of club, Kassapia to Man United, but what Rob's piece is, it's a really good piece, it shows that Amnero's got a human touch and I think he's a guy that will get the best out of his players by being a player's manager, a player's coach. There's an anecdote about a player at Kassapia, a player called Derritsen, who worked part-time at McDonald's, had four kids and was going to lose his house and therefore was going to lose his kids in terms of social services, was going to take them away.

Amarin found out about it and said I'll sort it out and by the end of that day he'd had he'd found a house for this family for this player and his family so it basically went the extra mile to make sure one of his players was happy and that bonded everybody together it showed he was on their side we haven't really seen as much of that at United yet he seems to be quite a hard taskmaster but it shows that he's a guy that the players will respect because he basically acts on their behalf

Interesting piece by Rob Draper. No relation. Let's go to the Times Sport here and round up with a bit of tennis. A painful exit, Carl. Melbourne crowd booed ten-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic after injury forces him to quit semi-final after one set. If this is to be his last outing in Melbourne, is it sad there? What do you think, Carl?

Djokovic has talked about perhaps this is maybe his last outing, but also to be slightly harsh, Djokovic talks a lot about a lot of things. So I'll believe that when I see it. His relationship with the Australian crowd has changed a lot since COVID lockdown. Obviously, he missed one tournament due to his stance on the vaccine.

and whatnot. And while he is a brilliant tennis player, he's not universally loved in the same way that Nadal has been or in the same way that Federer has been. And that friction has often made for a very entertaining viewing when he sort of embraces his pantomime villain role and whatnot. So I think this is just a little bit of back and forth between crowd and player rather than a definitive ending.

Yeah, a long way to go, I think, before his legacy is written. Quick, Mark, 15 seconds on Emma Raducanu, looking for a seventh coach in three and a half years in the times, but not her fault this time. Yeah, this is kind of an unfortunate situation, is that her coach has got some health issues, so he's had to step down. Listen, there's always a bit of drama around Emma Raducanu. She probably needs a bit of consistency, a settled coach, so hopefully she'll find a coach that can stick around for a couple of years and she can start winning things again.