Ruben Amorim has said that as a player he would have spoken to his manager about the exit rather than reacting to it in the media like Marcus Rashford did. Manchester United’s head coach is unsure how to deal with the striker despite reportedly leaving him out of the squad for Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham.

Rashford said he was “ready for a new challenge” in an interview with journalist Henry Winter on Tuesday. This comes after the 27-year-old, who has struggled with form over the last two seasons, was left out of United’s 2-1 win over Manchester City on Sunday.

Amorim was asked on Wednesday what he would have done if he had found himself in a similar situation to Rashford during his playing career. The 39-year-old represented Belenenses, Braga, Benfica and Al-Wakrah and won 14 caps for Portugal. “I would talk to the manager,” he said firmly.

“It’s hard to explain what I’m going to do. I’m a bit emotional,” Amorim added about Rashford’s interview. “I have to prepare for the game and we’ll see. Let’s focus on the team, not individual players.”

It is believed Rashford was not with his team-mates who traveled to London ahead of the Spurs game on Wednesday afternoon. However, Alejandro Garnacho, who was also left out of the squad for Sunday’s derby, was reported to have been in the squad.

Amorim was asked if he would approach the situation by moving on quickly. “It’s difficult to comment on this,” he said. “If I give it a lot of emphasis there will be big headlines in the newspapers, and if I say it’s not a problem my standards will go down. My focus is not to take the attention away from the game and the team and what we did in the last game.”

Amorim is understood to be keen to sell Rashford in January as part of a cultural reset he believes is necessary to transform the club, with United’s hierarchy willing to listen to offers for a player who commands a salary of £365,000 a week.

The head coach insisted on Wednesday that he wants Rashford to stay at Old Trafford, urging him to take on the “biggest challenge” of proving himself at his boyhood club, but also admitted he is unable would be to keep the player if he was actually determined to move.

“I have no control over that. What I can control is the way I see things, to get my players to games and training,” Amorim said, adding that he had not discussed Rashford’s long-term future with the club’s executives. “The interview was (Tuesday). I’m focused on Tottenham and my focus is on preparing the team for this game. Nothing has changed, we believe in Marcus.

“We have a new challenge here. It’s a difficult question. For me it is the biggest challenge in football because we are in a difficult situation and I have already said that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world. I really hope that all my players are ready for this new challenge.”

Amorim’s team for Sunday’s derby win was announced in advance but he says he will not do anything to find out how it happened.

“All the coaches know about it these days,” he said. “I explained a lot about the team, how we should play, the positions etc because I understand that the coaches only have this information once, when they see how Manchester United play.

“Plus, I can’t control (leaks). It is more important for my players to go into a game with a clear idea than to try to prevent the starting eleven from being announced.”