Ruben Amorim felt Marcus Rashford was unable to adapt to the way he wanted to play and train after taking the decision to let the homegrown Manchester United forward leave Old Trafford.

The 27-year-old played in the Portuguese’s first six matches but was dropped for the Manchester derby in mid-December, after which the England international revealed he was ready for a new challenge.

Rashford did not play for United again following the Europa League trip to Viktoria Plzen on December 12 and ended seven speculation-filled weeks on the sidelines by joining Aston Villa on loan.

That deal includes an option to make the move permanent for a reported £40million – a price tag that underlines the drop off since signing a new, big-money deal just 18 months ago.

“I couldn’t put Marcus to see the way you’re supposed to play football and to train the way I see it,” Amorim said.

“And sometimes you have one player that is really good with one coach, and the same player with another coach is different.

“I just wish the best to Rashford and to Unai Emery, and they can connect because he’s a very good player.”

Asked whether Rashford said that he did not agree with Amorim’s ideas about football, the head coach said: “You know, like me, that it’s not the way that occurs.

“It’s something that you feel as a coach and as a player. It’s quite normal. It happened with a lot of coaches.

“The important thing is that I’m here saying that was my decision, like Ty (Malacia) and Antony was my decision to do these loans, and to keep some players even without any transfers.”

Amorim brushed aside talk of a potential summer return for Rashford as his focus is on turning around a wretched season at United and shaping the team in his image.

“Guys, in the summer… like we said before, we are fighting for our jobs until the summer,” he said with a smile.

“So, I am just focused on these games. Thankfully about Marcus he is in Birmingham now with Unai, so you can take these questions to another coach. We are just focused on our players at the moment.”

Amorim admitted that United have taken a “risk” in their approach to the transfer window, allowing three experienced players to leave and only bringing in young defenders Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven.

The club’s inability to sign an attacker before Monday’s deadline is a particular concern at a club looking to bounce back from Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace as Leicester arrive in the FA Cup fourth round.

“It’s really hard, just the way we are sometimes losing,” Amorim said of the job. “I understand that we had a lot of games without training, but even then, in that context, I feel we should do better.

“When you are a coach, you want to win games and have that feeling all the time of winning, and to cope with everything when you have these problems.

“Of course you have difficult moments, it’s hard to sleep and whatever.

“One good thing I learn in this moment is that even in the good or bad moments, my idea is so clear that I make the same decisions without any other concerns.

“I just want to help the team to win and I know that we can change things. On the other side, I know we need to survive in this moment because in football when you don’t win you have problems.”

But while there may be stress and sleepless nights for Amorim, he feels ambitious Ineos understand things could get worse before they get better.

“What I’m trying to explain, I think it’s a little bit more hard for me to cope with that than the board,” he said.

“Because the board already know that, and I explained all the risks (when I joined). Everything that has happened I explained to the board, and they said the same thing: ‘We need to start now.’

“We are doing that but I understand in this moment with a lot of losses, especially at home, the environment is really hard. But I feel the support of the board, if you’re asking that.

“I’m not the slightest bit worried about that, it’s just the pain of losing, that is the hardest thing to cope.”