Who is to blame for Rashfords lack of game time? | Postecoglou future at Tottenham | Will West Ham sign Duran?
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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 newspapers. I'm Nick Powell, and joining me are Sam Dean, football reporter for The Telegraph, and Ian Ladyman, football editor at The Daily Mail. Welcome to you both.

So let's start with Marcus Rashford, who appears on pretty much all of the back pages in Ladyman. What do you make of the situation? Who is to blame for the fact that such a talented footballer is not getting anywhere near a football pitch?

Marcus Rashford is to blame. Things are always more nuanced than that and slightly more complex than that when you're dealing with footballers and human beings and emotions, etc. But you ask me the question and there can be nobody else to blame other than Marcus, I'm afraid. Marcus hasn't shown himself to be the right fit for Ruben Amrim. He didn't show himself to be the right fit for Eric Ten Haag in the second half of Ten Haag's time at Manchester United.

It did make me smile when I heard about this story today. It's a good line, it's a good line for the back pages, it's a good talking point, but I tell you what, if I was to look out my window now here in Manchester, I don't think I'd see many Manchester United fans hanging out flags to celebrate this news, because most of them, the ones that I talk to around where I live, the ones on my social media feeds, the ones who email me, they're sick and tired of Marcus Rashford. They either want to see Marcus playing...

for Manchester United or they'd like to see him out of the football club. This constant back and forth. He's on the back page as an awful lot for a player who doesn't play very much at the moment. It's only about three or four weeks ago that we were talking about an interview we'd given to Henry Winter where he said that he wanted to leave Manchester United. He's not been training at a level that...

Amirim deems to be good enough and you've got to trust the manager when he analyses his players but now he tells us or he tells us at least through a PR briefing that he's training extra hard to get back in the team and he wants to stay and

It's all a bit sad, really. It's all a bit unseemly. And I tell you what, I don't know who Marcus is getting his PR advice from right now. It seems to change from month to month and year to year. But if I was advising Marcus right now, it would be very, very simple. You hand him a pair of football boots

and you say, put those on, Marcus, and go and train. And train as hard as you can with your teammates and then go home and eat right and sleep well and come back again tomorrow and put your boots back on and do it again and the next day and the next day and the next day. And if you keep doing that, you'll get back into the Manchester United team because this is a Manchester United team that is not exactly brimming over with talented,

footballers and while people like young Amad Diallo is scoring a hat-trick to get his team out of the car against Southampton and a young player like Joshua Xerxe who's really struggled at United is scoring a penalty to get them through a cup tie at the Emirates against Arsenal what's Marcus been doing?

What's Marcus been doing? There's been no use to them whatsoever. So he should look at those players and think, right, enough of this, enough of these PR briefings, enough of words, enough of talk to get my boots on and play and let's show people that I really want to play for Manchester United instead of telling them one week that I don't and then three weeks later telling them that actually I've changed my mind and I do. He's the main headline on the back of the sun as well. Sam Dean, unseemly was Ian's word. Are you happy with that word?

Yeah, it's an interesting one. I agree with Ian about this is in Rashford's power to a large degree. But I also can't imagine that the timing of these stories and the sort of coordinated release of it will do him much good, to be honest. Remember, this comes a day after another embarrassing home defeat, this time against Brighton.

And a day after Amarim said it's maybe the worst team in the history of Manchester United. And then 24 hours later, you've got Marcus Rashford indirectly putting his hand up and reminding the world, well, I'm still here and I'm being excluded. It feels...

While the message is very much a case of Rashford wanting to fight for the cause, the timing of it feels more like a reminder that he's being dropped and the team's doing badly. It feels perhaps more self-serving than you might think based on just reading the intros and the words of the news themselves. I think the issue here is clearly a wider one than just Rashford, though. I think Amarim's spoken about wanting to build a different culture at Manchester United and to change

to change the way things are done there. And clearly he feels like he can't back down in this situation and understandably so. But equally, I think anyone who's watched football over the past 10 years and see what Marcus Rashford can do would look at Man United struggles as a team against Brighton, for example, even against Southampton, the game they won, but in which they struggled quite badly. And you can't help but think that Rashford would help that team play better. I mean, of course he's good enough to play for them.

There's clearly deeper issues going on there still, but I can't imagine this particular news story will help Rashford's cause too much, to be honest. And he's not going to go anywhere, and The Times make this point, their main story on their back page in Ladyman, that the wages that he seems to want, they're quoting £325,000 a week. No-one's going to be able to afford that. United, if he does go on loan, are going to have to pay most of that.

Yeah, I was talking to somebody at United about this last week, actually, just before the game at Arsenal, and they were saying exactly that, that if it were to be a loan, which you would think would be more likely, then United would have to supplement a huge portion of those wages. But if I'm in, the coach believes that having Rashford around, even if he's not playing, is unhelpful, unhelpful for atmosphere, unhelpful for culture, um,

just to echo what Sam said a minute ago, then that is probably quite literally a price that United would probably be willing to pay. Because at the moment, United are absolutely in the cart. And what they can't afford is to have people around the place who are not on the page.

Eric ten Hag suffered that with a number of players. Some of those have gone now. He suffered that with Marcus for a while. And if Amritan thinks that he's suffering that way, then even if they've got to pay a chunk of those wages to get him to Dortmund or somewhere like that, or to get him to Italy, if that's for the good of the group and for the good of the football club, as crazy as that sounds, given that Marcus remains a talented lad, then that's probably the path to take.

Sam, you made the point that there is a wider issue here, that it is Manchester United's overall form that's the bigger problem. Jeremy Cross in the mirror with a story headline, "Fergie time". Ammarin, as he puts it, turning to Fergie. Fergie, we're not told anything much more than that he says, "Stay positive." But should a man who's been out of the game, the front line, for so long be having any influence at all, with the greatest possible respect to the great Sir Alex?

Well, I think if you're Ruben Amarim, I think of all the people you might want to hear a positive, encouraging word from, I think Sir Alex Ferguson would rank pretty highly on that list. Whether that's the same as giving him tactical guidance, for example, or encouraging him to alter his 343 formation, I don't know. But a positive arm around the shoulder and a word of encouragement and a little whisper in the ear that people are still behind him and packing him, I'm sure will go quite a long way given, for

Ferguson's status in the game and his achievements, obviously. So it can't hurt, you wouldn't have thought. But equally,

I would be interested to know just how far that advice goes in terms of the actual man management and the tactics and the actual job that Amarim has on his hands. Because as we know, obviously, Sir Alex Ferguson has been out of the game for a long time now. And I can't imagine he's particularly sort of on top of the minutiae and the small details involved with United. So it's a tricky one. But certainly, it can't hurt to get encouragement from someone like him. Is it a good look, Ian?

i'd be interested to know whether sir alex gave him that advice to stay positive before or after he chose to tell the world that he was in charge of the worst manchester night team anybody ever seen because not an awful lot of positivity there it does make me um smile or grimace a little bit the way that um amram's own messaging has changed in the 70 odd days that he's been at united i was at his introductory press conference when he sat there at carrington um in a room that fergie himself used to sit in and talk to us um and

And Amrim said, I know that you lot, i.e. the media, don't believe in these players, but I do, and I'll show you that they're worthy. And here we are, only just taking our Christmas decorations down, some of us, and Amrim seems to have lost that faith himself. So I think it's that messaging that would worry me more if I was knocking about Manchester United or if I was a Manchester United fan, rather than whether the greatest manager the club has ever had has had a word in Amrim's ear or not. And

Nice story. Largely irrelevant to the way that United's season goes from this point on, I would say. Sam Day, not sure when you take your Christmas decks down. Ian, sounds a bit late to me. But let's talk about Ange Postacoglu, back of the Guardian. Postacoglu on shaky ground. Daniel Levy is in charge at Tottenham. Give coach lifeline, but Spurs require urgent revival. We can all agree with the last bit.

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure Andrew Postakoglu himself would be the first to agree with that too. Obviously, the pressure really is building up now on Postakoglu, but equally,

from what we're reading, what we're reporting, what we're hearing, it's not at the point yet of him sort of fighting for his job on a sort of game-by-game basis. But clearly this can't go on the way it is going on right now. And I do think this week could be really important for him, especially the Thursday night in the Europa League when Tottenham travel to Germany to face Hoffenheim. Because I think the real, I mean, there are two things that are sort of keeping Popsokoglu safe for now. One is obviously the injury crisis and

and the obvious excuse that that gives him for the results over the past few months. But the second is the pursuit of a trophy, and Ange Prostakoglu's sort of own stated ambition to win one and his claim that he always wins one in his second year. That is still a live issue, and I think the Europa League, even though they're still going very strong in the League Cup too, but I think the Europa League is a real potential target for Tottenham. I don't see any reason why they can't go on and win that when you look at the teams in it and overall.

the strength they've got in their squad when the players are fit, crucially. And obviously, Europa League victory would also guarantee the Champions League. So as long as they're alive in that, and as long as their league form hasn't continued to completely spiral in the way it has in the past few weeks, I suspect that Bosakoglu will just about remain safe over the next few weeks and months. It's on the back of the mirror as well. An article by our friend John Cross, Ange Job is safe

for now, Ian Ladyman. Why is it different this time? Why are Tottenham giving Postacoglio a little bit more leeway than they've done in all their recent managers?

Well, because they can still see signs of a really good manager in there. There's not the toxicity around the club that there was when they got rid of Antonio Conte, when they got rid of Jose Mourinho, famously a few days before League Cup final. Those two managers have got to a point where the building was about to burn down if they didn't get him out in terms of the players and relationships with staff, for example. And

And it's not like that with Postacoglu. The players like him. The players aren't resisting him. Yeah, some of the players, I think, do have some doubts about whether maybe occasionally they could play in a slightly more restrained manner. But overall, they are supportive. And also, Tottenham, I think, for once, have been smart. They look at their situation. They're not going to get into the Champions League. That is gone, OK? They're not...

but equally they're not going to go down. So they're essentially going to finish somewhere between 15th and 8th, I would imagine, OK? Now, apart from a few million quid in terms of prize money for where you finish, it's not a massive deal. So Daniel Levy and the Tottenham board...

if they've got a shred of belief left in hand which i think they have they may as well see how he goes in the hope that when players come back and i'm told that they are going to try and support him with a couple of players in the next 10 days if he can get them moving then it's worth the risk because what's the alternative get rid of him give ryan mason another run around the block um

get a manager in quickly might turn out to be the wrong one. Turn their back on this policy that they've got under Johan Lange, the new director of football, of buying younger players, et cetera, et cetera, investing in the future. Just tear that up just because they're not in the top half of the table. I think for once they've taken a pragmatic, unemotional approach to it and thought and thought themselves,

There's a chance still that Anz can move us the way we want to go, so we'll give him that chance. And if it doesn't work, it's not going to kill us. Sam, let's start with you. This time, as we look at the mail, they've got plenty on Chelsea's win over Wolves and on Marcus Rashford at the top there. Villa reject Hammers' Duran bid. West Ham want him, Villa want more money. Do you see it happening in January?

No, I don't think so. From what we're reporting at The Telegraph especially, it's that West Ham are not expected to go back with another bid. Villa are believed to value him at closer to 80 million, which obviously is quite a big leap from 57 million. And also there's some dispute over whether the bid from West Ham did indeed amount to 57. So it sounds like Villa aren't particularly impressed with the way this has been done. They're playing in the Champions League against Monaco tomorrow.

And I think that their view is that the timing from West Ham could have been a lot better on this. But I think it is worth noting too, though, that this is not just out of the blue from West Ham's point of view. They were very, very keen on signing Gervain in the summer too. And there was famously that video of him doing the irons. That was just on social media around the time he was linked to the club. So this one's been sort of bumbling, bubbling away for about six months or so. And it's very clear that he is a player who's,

Got huge potential, incredible talent, and a lot of big clubs, including Chelsea in the past, have been looking at Duran. I do find it interesting because obviously Villa have two top-class centre-forwards with him and Ollie Watkins, and generally they only play with one. And given the nature of the world with PSR and the financial regulations and Villa needing to stay within those,

you do think that it kind of makes sense for them to cash in on one of Watkins or Duran and with Duran being a younger player who's just signed a new contract you'd assume that his fee would be a big one as we know as we can see from the bid today and I

I think there's probably logic to selling him, but they're making it clear that they don't view him as available for sale this month. That's not necessary to say it won't be the case in the summer, but it will be interesting over the next 10 days to see if any other clubs come forward, because I think we can all think of a few Premier League teams and some big ones too who would really benefit from a player like Duran in their front line. Absolutely, and if the destination club, the potential destination club,

were suitable in John Duran's eyes in The Telegraph doing this story as well. You'd think that sooner or later, Duran is going to get very fed up of starting on the bench.

Well, indeed, and he has made his feelings known on that previously, although it's worth noting that he had actually got Olly Watkins out of the team at Villa round about Christmastime or just before Christmastime, I think, but then got himself sent off in a game against Newcastle and was banned for three games. So it was just slightly controversial sending off. I think it was a stamp on Fabian Schär, which may or may not have been...

depending on which way you look at it. But the fact is that he did get the ban. He's got himself out of the team again. He has an understandably high opinion of himself, and I don't say that in a critical way. I think he's a confident lad, from what I've told, and he wants to play games. Now, whether he would be best served playing those games at West Ham rather than Aston Villa, I think is an appropriate point to make. West Ham are absolutely desperate for centre-forward. Graham Potter hasn't got one fit or available to him at all.

at the moment, so I can see why they would go back for a play they wanted in the summer. Villa have played it nicely. They've gotten tied up on a long contract, so they can quite happily ask what they want for him. Somebody did tell me on Sunday night, actually, that they thought that one of Watkins or Duran might go in this window simply for PSR reasons, etc. But I go back to that original point. If you're John Duran...

Aston Villa or West Ham, unless you're desperate to live in London. I think it would be Aston Villa all day long for me. So the question would be, what if it isn't West Ham? I think, Sam, you mentioned Chelsea. What about the story in The Times who say Chelsea eyeing Vlaevic, moved to San Vlaevic, has been in fabulous form for Juventus this season. Do you see him as being a hit in England if it happens?

Well, this is Chelsea, the football club, but also a player trading business. Once again, doing what Chelsea love to do under their current ownership. And Vlahovic, I suppose it makes sense in the sense that he scores goals. He's 24, I think, so he's not too old. And we know they like to target younger players. And I don't think he's had the best of times in Juventus overall. I think his goal record's quite good, but overall his performance has perhaps been

of a lower standard than Juventus were expecting when they signed him for a huge fee from Fiorentina. But I can only assume that this would be tied up completely with the future of Christopher Nkunku, who is of serious interest at Bayern Munich and seems to be edging closer to that move. So one would assume if Nkunku goes, then Chelsea want to bring someone like Vlahovic in. Obviously, they looked as well at the Bayern Munich striker Matisse Tell.

So Chelsea in the market for a forward and Nicholas Jackson's off form currently and Mkunku's not really showing any signs of getting into the team. So you can see why they would think that another number nine, sorry, would be a welcome addition. Whether Vlaevic is that man, it remains to be seen. And also in the Times, they report too that there's interest from Juventus in Renato Vega, the Chelsea left back, who's, I suppose, his...

perhaps Tencent Future could also come into this and could help with the finances of any deal. Indeed, yeah. It's certainly been much better this season than last for Juventus. Let me stick with you for a second, Sam, if I may, because your paper has this very interesting front page, Abramovich's gilded cage. If you were wondering where has Romain gone, your colleague Tom Morgan has been digging out the answers. Yeah, that's right. So my colleague Tom has been to Turkey to sort of

try and get on the trail of Abramovich, obviously a very elusive man and a man who lives a secretive life, especially since his sanctions from the European Union and the British government, which have really brought an end to his globetrotting days. And he now has these two super yachts that are just floating there in Turkish waters, not being used, with Abramovich not really able to travel across the world as he used to.

As you might perhaps expect with Abramovich, there is a sort of trail of cash wherever he goes. And Tom Morgan writes about finding a chef in Istanbul who was recently tipped $10,000 for one night's work by Abramovich. So he's still living the life of luxury, as you would imagine, although it's very much not the life he used to live before the invasion of Ukraine. Let's have a quick word about the club he left behind. Chelsea were in the Monday Night Football...

Ian Ladyman, how impressed or otherwise were you with their reasonably straightforward demolition of Wolves? Yeah, I noticed in that game that Wolves, I think, conceded their 19th goal from a set-piece this season, which is quite some going. Their kind of little revival under their new coach, Richard Pereira, seems to have stalled a little bit. Look, Chelsea have had their wobble over Christmas. They've got back on the bike, as it were. Look, I think Chelsea...

having a better season than anybody really thought they would do when it started. I know that they briefly enter or did announce themselves despite what their manager was saying. They announced themselves as title contenders a month or so ago. That

that surge has subsequently abated, but that doesn't mean that this hasn't been a progressive season for them because it has. You know, the coach has shown himself to be the right coach. He's found himself, found a way to put together the right team. There's some holes in the team. I think he's still got a problem at goalkeeper. They're not the same when Cole Palmer isn't scoring and assisting every game, but it's been a progressive season for them so far, I would say. Yeah.